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Full text of "A compendium of the theological and spiritual writings of Emanuel Swedenborg; being a systematic and orderly epitome of all his religious works; selected from more than 30 v. and embracing all his fundamental principles, with copious illus. and teachings. With an appropriate introd. prefaced by a full life of the author with a brief view of all his works on science, philosophy, and theology"

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Columbia  ©nitiem'tp 


LIBRARY 


/  I  >vmx/v   ~     /  "w^  c/e^  60 


.0^ 


COMPENDIUM 


OF   THE 


THEOLOGICAL  AND  SPIRITUAL  WRITINGS 


OF 


EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG: 

A  SYSTEMATIC  AND   ORDERLY  EPITOME  OE  ALL   HIS 

RELIGIOUS   WORKS; 

SELECTED   FROM   MORE  THAN  THIRTY    VOLUMES, 
AND   EMBRACING  ALL   HIS 

FUNDAMENTAL  PRD^CIPLES,  WITH   COPIOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS 

AND  TEACHINGS. 

WITH  AN  APPROPRIATE  INTRODUCTION. 
PREFACED    BY 

A  FULL  LIFE  OF  THE  AUTHOE; 

WITH 

A  BRIEF  VIEW  OF  ALL  HIS  WORKS  ON  SCIENCE,  PHILOSOPHY,  AND  THEOLOGY. 

SECOND    THOUSAND. 

"  There  are  five  classes  of  those  "who  read  my  -writings.  The  first  reject  them  entirely,  because  they 
are  in  another  persuasion,  or  because  they  are  in  no  faith.  The  second  receive  them  as  scientifics, 
or  as  objects  of  mere  curiosity.  The  third  receive  them  intellectually,  and  are  in  some  measure  pleased 
with  them,  but  whenever  they  require  an  application  to  regulate  their  lives,  they  remain  'where  they  were 
before.  The  fourth  receive  them  in  a  persuasive  manner,  and  are  thereby  led,  in  a  certain  degree,  to 
amend  their  lives  and  perform  uses.     The  fifth  receive  them  with  deUght,  and  confirm  them  in  theii 

lives."  —  SWEDENBOKG. 

BOSTON: 

CROSBY   AND  NICHOLS,   AND    OTIS   CLAPP. 

^EW    YORK:    PARTRIDGE    AND    BRITTAN ;    FOWLERS    AND    WELLS. 

PHILADELPHIA:    LIPPINCOTT,  GRAMBO,  AND   COMPANY. 

CINCINNATI :    TRUMAN  AND  SPOFFORD. 

185  4. 


TO    THE    PUBLIC. 


The  design  of  this  Work  is,  to  exhibit,  in  a  condensed  form,  the  Life  and 
Writings  of  the  most  wonderful  man  that  ever  lived.  The  developments  of  the 
present  age  and  day  make  this  a  most  timely  production.  The  great  objection  to 
the  reading  of  Swedenborg  has  hitherto  been,  that  his  Writings  are  too  voluminous. 
Here  is  the  substance  of  more  than  Thirty  Volumes  comprised  in  one,  so  far  as  it 
could  be  done  even  in  so  large  a  volume,  with  the  fullest  Life  of  the  Author  that 
has  ever  been  published. 

■  As  a  man  of  Science,  and  a  Philosopher  of  Natm-e,  as  a  SEER  and  Theolo- 
gian, and  as  a  Philosopher  of  spirit,  it  is  now  generally  conceded  that  he  has  the 
most  liberal  demands  upon  the  Reason  and  Faith  of  our  common  Humanity ;  and  it  is 
certainly  a  desideratum  to  have,  in  one  volume,  a  COMPENDIUM  of  so  vast  and 
wonderful  an  Author.  But  read  the  Tables  of  Contents,  and  see  the  interesting 
and  all-important  subjects  of  which  he  treats. 


The  following  is  an  explanation  of  the  abbreviated  titles  of  the  works  referred  to  in  this  Compenditjm. 


A.  C.     .    .  Arcana  Ccelestia. 

A.  E.     ...  Apocalypse   Explained 

A.  R.    .    .    .  Apocalypse  Revealed. 

T.  C.  K.    .    .  True  Christian  Religion. 

H.  H.    ...  Heaven  and  Hell. 

D.  L.  W.  .    .  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom. 

D.  P.     ...  Divine  Providence. 

C.  L.    ...  Conjugial  Love. 

E.  U.    ...  Earths  in  the  Universe. 
b.  L.    ...  Divine  Love. 

D.  W.  .    .    .  Divine  Wisdom. 

S.  S Doctrine   concerning    the    Sacred 

Scriptures. 


L. .    .  .    Doctrine  of  the  Lord. 

D.       ....     {Decalogue)  DOCTRINE    OF  LIFE. 

C Doctrine   of  Charity. 

F. Doctrine  of  Faith. 

H.  D.    .    .    .    Heavenly  Doctrine. 

D.  J.     .  Brief  Exposition  of  the    Doctrines 

Of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
L.  J. .    .        .    Last     Judgment.  —  L.    J.    contin..    Last 

Judgment  Continued. 
I.  S.  B.     .        Nature  of  Influx  between  Soul  and 

Body. 
W.  H.   .    .    .    Concerning  the  White  Horse,  iier.xix. 
S.  D.     ...    Spiritual  Diary.* 


*  It  should  be  remarked,  in  respect  to  the  quotations  from  the  "  Spiritual  Diary,"  that  this  work  is  not  considered  the  same 
authority  as  the  other  writings  of  Swedenborg,  being  a  posthumous  publication,  without  the  author's  sanction.  It  is  evidently  a 
record  of  his  private  spiritual  experience  as  it  occurred  from  day  to  day,  and  appears  to  be  the  first  brief  notes  and  groundwork, 
from  which  he  afterwards  constructed  his  more  matured  and  authorized  works.  If  there  are  errors  in  it,  they  are  generally  sup- 
posed to  be  corrected  in  his  authorized  publications.  See  another  note  respecting  the  Diary,  Compendium,  numbers  1139,  1140.  U 
should  be  well  remembered  that  the  whole  of  the  Diary  was  written  before  the  Last  Judgment,  which  may  serve  to  explain  some 
otherwise  obscure  passages  in  it. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1854, 

By  CROSBY   &  NICHOLS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


PEEFACE   TO   THE  LIFE. 


An  attempt  is  here  made  to  present  a  fuller  ac- 
count than  any  yet,  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of 
the  most  extraordinary  man  who  has  ever  lived. 
He  was  a  man  who  has  evidently  done  as  much, 
to  say  the  least,  to  benefit  humanity,  though  not 
yet  appreciated  because  of  the  hio^h  sphere  in 
which  he  labored,  as  any  of  the  world's  most  illus- 
trious benefactors.  We  are  aware,  when  we  speak 
thus,  that  we  shall  not  gain  credence  m  many  a  mind. 
Let  truth  and  time,  then,  speak  for  themselves, 
Swedenborg  is  evidently  the  most  unknown  man 
of  the  world.  There  is  more  to  learn,  and  less 
learned,  of  his  voluminous  and  interminable  wis- 
dom, than  the  superficial,  yea,  than  the  scientific 
and  philosophic  of  this  world,  are  by  any  measure 
aware  of.  And  it  is  a  pleasing  contemplation  at 
this  day,  to  see  a  manifestly  popular  and  growing 
desire  to  know  more  of  the  great  Philosopher  and 
Seer  of  the  latter  ages,  than  can  be  found  in 
Cyclopsedian,  Biographical,  and  Theological  Dic- 
tionaries, most  of  which  bear  false  witness  against 
him  and  his  doctrines.  He  is  still  regarded  by 
many,  as  an  insane  visionary,  or  somnambulic 
dreamer ;  a  very  learned  and  good  man,  but  de- 
ranged on  the  subject  of  Theology.  Others,  and 
their  number  is  now  largely  increasing,  are  be- 
ginning to  regard  him  as  a  man  of  true  spiritual 
enlightenment,  of  enlarged  ideas  of  God,  of  Na- 
ture, and  of  the  Spiritual  Spheres,  but  still  far 
from  correct  in  many  of  his  principles  and  teach- 
ings. Still  another  class,  though  as  yet  but  small, 
have  a  right  appreciation  of  his  noble  genius  and 
mission. 

It  is  perhaps  useless,  to  say  in  this  Preface  to  a 
Life  and  Writings  which  will  speak  for  them- 
selves, that  he  is  unquestionably  the  most  tran- 
scendent human  luminary  that  has  ever  yet  snone 
upon  our  dark  world.  Even  in  Science  and  Philos- 
ophif,  he  nobly  strode  a  century  before  his  time, 
and  his  works  evince,  not  of  course  without  minor 
errors,  an  intuitional  and  decided  anticipation  of 
many  of  the  more  recent  discoveries.  He  was  a 
man,  "  take  him  for  all  in  all,"  who  was  the  most 
marvellously  girted  of  any  of  the  sons  of  earth, 
both  on  the  sides  of  nature  and  of  spirit.  He 
combined  them  both  in  his  God-given  grasp,  and 
there  can  be  no  question,  were  it  not  for  his  theo- 
logical character,  by  which  many  are  yet  held 
from  his  scientific  works,  that  he  would  at  this 
day  take  a  foremost  rank  in  some  of  the  most  ab- 
struse departments  of  natural  physics  and  philoso- 
Ehy.  His  discoveries  and  teachings  in  Geology, 
lineralogy,  Botany,  Natural  History,  Animal  and 
Human  Physiology,  Chemistry,  Crystallography, 
Mathematics,  Mechanics,  Astronomy,  and  Natural 
Philosophy,  show  how  deeply  the  world  is  indebted 


to  the  labors  of  this  "Great  Humble  Man,"  in 
whose  works  on  these  interesting  subjects  can  be 
found  the  seeds  or  principles  of  all  that  is  known 
of  the  Essences,  Forms,  Powers  and  Uses  of 
Universal  Matter;  and  how  far  he  was  in  advance 
of  Bacon,  Leibnitz,  Newton,  La  Place,  Kepler, 
Herschel,  Cuvier,  or  any  other  man,  as  a  theorist 
and  author ;  and  at  the  same  time  perfectly  free 
from  all  jealousies  and  animosities  growing  out  ol 
any  of  them,  as  to  who  should  be  the  greatest  in 
the  Kingdoms  of  Nature.  It  may  be  said  of  him, 
most  truly,  that  "  he  set  one  foot  of  the  compass 
of  truth  in  God,  and  with  the  other,  swept  all 
oreation,  both  animate  and  inanimate."  And  this 
is  particularly  true,  when  we  consider  him  as  the 
Seer,  Theologian,  and  Philosopher  of  spirit. 

In  the  present  work,  we  have  aimed  at  a  fuller 
presentation  of  him  as  a  man  of  Science  and  Phi- 
losophy, than  can  be  found  in  any  other  Biography ; 
and  this  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the 
perfectly  irrational  character  of  those  charges 
against  him  as  a  mere  visionary,  void  of  a  solid  un- 
derstanding, and  how  the  world  is  mistaken  in 
one  of  her  greatest  sons  ;  but  also  for  the  purpose 
of  showing  how  well  prepared  he  was,  in  all  the 
natural  knowledge  which  man  could  then  acquire, 
for  that  sacred  office  to  which  he  was  at  last 
called,  as  the  illuminated  Teacher  of  the  New 
Church. 

But  from  the  character  of  this  Work,  being 
more  of  a  compilation  than  an  original  composi- 
tion, we  here  make  one  acknowledgment  for  all, 
of  indebtedness  to  the  various  Biographers  of 
Swedenborg,  especially  to  Wilkinson  and  Rich  ; 
also  to  various  minor  publications,  such  as  the 
"  Intellectual  Repository,"  "  New  Jerusalem  Mag- 
azine," and  other  works.  We  would  gladly  have 
given  the  usual  credit,  passage  by  passage,  for 
the  many  extracts  we  have  made  ;  but  as  the  first 
part  of  the  work  was  made  up  before  it  was  con- 
templated to  publish  it  as  a  Prefix  to  this  "Com- 
pendium "  of  his  writings,  it  would  be  very  diffi- 
cult now  to  refer  to  the  many  sources,  for  the  par 
ticular  page  of  each  publication  quoted  fr;>m. 
And  as  the  extracts  from  the  Biographies  abcve 
referred  to,  involve  so  much  that  is  drawn  from  a 
common  source  and  from  each  other,  particularly 
from  the  "Documents  concerning  the  Life  and 
Character  of  Swedenborg,"  therefore,  for  all  suffi- 
cient purposes,  we  have  chosen  to  give  this  gen- 
eral credit.  But  where  long  extracts  occur,  which 
are  characterized  by  the  author's  peculiar  mode 
of  thinking,  we  have,  nevertheless,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  first  part  above  referred  to,  given 
the  particular  credit  as  usual. 

COMPILER. 
(3) 


350419 


CONTENTS   OF   THE  LIFE. 


FABT  I. 

rioE 

swedenborg,  the   philosopher    of 

Nature, 5 

Travels  and  first  Publications,         .         .       8 

The  Principia, 14 

Theories  of  Gravitation,  .  .  .16 
The  Planetary  System,  .         .         .17 

Magnetic  Spheres,  .         .  .         .21 

Philosophy  of  the  Infinite,  and  the  Inter- 
course between  Soul  and  Body,  .         .     23 
Travels,  and  Remarks  on  Political  and 

Religious  Institutions,  .         .         .25 

Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,  .     26 

The  Blood  and  the  Spirituous  Fluid,  .  28 
Brains,  Heart  and  Lungs,  .  .  .33 
Posthumous  Tracts,         .         .  .         .33 

The  Animal  Kingdom,  .  .  .  .35 
Miscellaneous  Works.      Their  Character 

and  Tendency,  .  .  .  .  .40 
Woi-ship  and  Love  of  God,  .  .  .42 
Swedenborg's  Style,  .  .  .  .44 
Philosophic  and  Scientific  Genius, .         .     45 


PART  n. 

S"WEDENBORG,  THE  SeER,  THEOLOGIAN, 

AND  Philosopher  of  Spirit,  .     48 

Inward  Breathings,  and  other  Indications 

of  a  Spiritual  Constitution,  .         .     49 

Opening  of  Swedenborg's  Spiritual  Sight,     51 
Swedenborg's  Divine  Call,      .         .         .56 
First  Preparations  for  his  new  Mission,  .     57 
The  Arcana  Coelestia,     .         .         .         .58 

Executed  Criminals,       .         .         .         .62 

The  Last  Judgment,       .         .         .         .63 

Heaven  and  Hell,  ...  .65 

Earths  in  the  Universe, .         .         .         .67 

Doctrine  of  the  New  Jerusalem,     .         .     68 
Spiritual  Sight.     Immanuel  Kant,  .         .     69 
Spiritual  Intercourse,      .         .         .         .70 

Spiritual  Foresight,         .         .         .         .72 

Political  Principles  and  Deliberations,     .     72 
Sight  of  a  Death.     Contribution  to  Sci- 
ence, ......     74 

Doctrine  of  the  Lord,    .         .         .         .74 

Divine  Love  and  "Wisdom,      .         .         .75 
The  Sacred  Scripture,    .         .         .         .76 

Faith,  Life,  and  Providence,  .         .         .78 

Spiritual  Diary, 78 

Apocalypse,  .         .         .         .         .         .79 

Meeting  with  Dr.  Beyer,         .         .         .79 
Apocalypse  Revealed,    .         .         .         .80 

Travels,  Anecdotes,  &;c.,         .         .         .81 
Kant's  Inquiries,    .  .  .         .         .83 

Visit  from  Virgil.     Deceased  King,        .     84 
Conjugial  Love,     .         .         .         .         .86 

Christ's  Power  ;ver  all  Flesh,         .         .88 


Doctrines  of  the  New  Church,  and  Com- 
mencement of  Persecution,          .         .  88 
Intercourse  between  the  Soul  and  Body,  91 
Persecution,  and  Defence  of  his  Opinions,  92 
Spiritual  Phenomena.     The  Insane  and 
Idiotic,       ......  94 

Offering  to  Science.  Journey  to  Amster- 
dam. An  Evening  at  Copenhagen,  .  95 
Our  Opinions  follow  us  into  the  next  Life,  97 
Testimonies  to  Spiritual  Intercourse,  .  97 
True  Christian  Religion,  .  .  .98 
Mental  Peculiarities.  Last  Sickness,  .  99 
His  Connection  with  Rev.  John  Wesley,  100 
Close  of  his  Earthly  Life,      .         .         .  101 

PART  m. 

Personal  Testimonies  and  Anecdotes,      .  103 
Phenomena  of  Spiritual  Intercourse,       .  105 

Anecdotes,  &;c., 106 

Diet,      .......  108 

Sleep, .109 

Conversation,       •   .         .         .         .         .109 
Peculiarities,  .         .         .         .         .109 

Habits  and  Manners,      .         .         .         .110 
Editions  of  the  Bible  made  Use  of  by 

Swedenborg,       .         .         .         .         .-Ill 
Character, Ill 


PART  IV. 

Concluding  Reflections,  .... 
Qualifications  for  his  sacred  Office, 
Testimony  of  Oberlin,    .... 
Children's  Questions  answered. 
Opening  of  Religions  and  Superstitions,  . 
Opening  of  History  and  Science,    . 
Harmony  or  Union,        .         .         .  "^ » . 
The  Philosophers  are  the  Mystics,.      '  . 
Swedenborg  wanted,       .         .         .        < 

APPENDIX. 

The  Familiar  Spirit,      .         .         .         .. 

Octonary  Computus,       .         .         .         . 

First  public  Advertisement  of  Sweden- 
borg's Writings,  .... 

First  Reception  of  the  Writings  of  Swe- 
denborg,    ...... 

Notice  of  the  London  Monthly  Review,  . 

Extract  from  the  Commencement  of  Wil- 
kinson's Biography,    .         .         .         . 

Testimony  of  Professor  Gorres, 

Extract  from  the  Memoir  by  Rev.  0. 
Prescott  Hiller, ..... 

Testimony  of  the  late  Rev.  John  Clowes, 

A.M., 

I  The  New  Church, 

(4) 


112 
112 
113 
116 
116 
118 
119 
119 
120 


123 

123 

124 

126 
126 

126 
127 

127 

128 
128 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS 


OF 


EMANUEL  SWEDENBOEG. 


PART  I. 

SWEDENBOEG,  THE   PHILOSOPHER  OF 
NATURE. 

1.  Emanuel  Swedenbouc  was  born  at 
Stockholm,  the  capital  of  Sweden,  January 
29,  1688.  He  was  the  third  child,  and  the 
second  son,  of  seven  children.  His  father. 
Dr.  Jesper  Swedberg,  was  for  several  years 
chaplain  of  a  regiment  of  cavalry,  but  was 
finally  made  Bishop  of  Skara,  in  \Vest  Goth- 
land, and  also  superintendent  of  the  Swedish 
Lutheran  churches  in  London,  Eng.,  and  Penn- 
sylvania, U.  S.,  their  location  in  this  country 
being  about  the  Delaware,  and  their  station 
in  Philad(;l|)hia.  He  was  a  man  of  consider- 
able learning  and  abilities,  free  from  bigotry 
and  sectarianism,  and  bore  an  excellent  pri- 
vate and  public  cliaracter.  It  is  said  that  one 
of  the  family  came  to  America  and  settled  in 
Canada.  The  bishop  mentions  in  his  diary, 
"  that  he,  his  wife,  and  all  his  children,  except 
Catharina,  were  born  on  a  Sunday." 
*  2.  The  character  of  this  prelate  stood  high 
in  Sweden;  his  voice  was  heard  on  great  occa- 
sions, whether  to  reassure  the  people  under 
the  calamity  of  battle  or  pestilence,  or  to  re- 
buke the  vicious  manners  of  the  upper  classes, 
or  the  faults  of  the  king  himself;  he  labored 
with  constant  and  vigorous  patriotism  to  rouse 
the  public  spirit  of  the  country  for  useful  and 
CJu'istian  objects.  Swedenborg's  parentage 
and  home  were,  therefore,  happy  omens  of 
his  future  life  ;  he  was  brought  up  with  strict 
but  kindly  care ;  was  carefully  educated  by 
his  father  in  all  innocence  and  scientific  learn- 
ing; and  enjoyed  the  opportunities  afforded  by 
tlie  sphere  and  example  of  family  virtues,  ac- 
complishments, and  high  station,  with  which 
he  was  surrounded. 

3.  The  only  record  we  have  of  his  child- 
hood is  in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  late  in  life  to 
Dr.  Beyer.  "  With  regard  to  what  passed  in 
the  earliest  part  of  my  life,  about  which  you 
wish  to  be  informed :  from  my  fourth  to  ray 
tenth  year,  my  thoughts  were  constantly  en- 
grossed by  reflecting  on  God,  on  salvation, 
and  on  the  spiritual  affections  of  man.  I 
often  revealed  things  in  my  discourse  which 


filled  my  parents  with  astonishment,  and  made 
them  declare  at  times,  that  certainly  the  an- 
gels spoke  through  my  mouth. 

4.  "  From  my  sixth  to  my  twelfth  year,  it 
was  my  greatest  delight  to  converse  with  the 
clergy  concerning  faith ;  to  whom  I  often  ob- 
served, that  charity  or  love  is  the  life  of  faith, 
and  that  this  vivifying  charity  or  love  is  no 
other  than  the  love  of  one's  neighbor;  that 
God  vouchsafes  this  faith  to  every  one ;  but 
that  it  is  adopted  by  those  only  who  pi-actise 
that  charity.  I  knew  of  no  other  faith  or  be- 
lief at  that  time,  than  that  God  is  the  Creator 
and  Preserver  of  nature  ;  that  he  endues  man 
with  understanding,  good  inclinations,  and 
other  gifts  derived  from  these.  I  knew  noth- 
ing at  that  time  of  the  systematic  or  dogmatic 
kind  of  faith,  that  God  the  Father  imputes 
the  righteousness  or  merits  of  his  Son  to 
whomsoever,  and  at  whatever  times,  he  wills, 
even  to  the  impenitent.  And  had  I  heard  of 
such  a  faith,  it  would  have  been  then,  as  now, 
perfectly  unintelligible  to  me." 

5.  This  information  from  Swedenborg  him- 
self shows  at  how  early  a  period  he  was  pene- 
trated with  that  theological  reform  which  is 
all  in  all  in  his  latest  writings ;  and  when  to 
this  it  is  added,  that  his  sayings  at  the  time 
were  so  extraordinary  that  his  parents  used  to 
declare  that  "  the  angels  spoke  through  his 
mouth,"  we  see  how  deeply  were  the  prepara- 
tions laid  for  that  spiritual  and  mental  condi- 
tion which  his  mature  years  were  to  present. 

G.  In  the  sequel  we  shall  have  to  point  out 
some  psychological  peculiarities  that  occurred  at 
"  his  morning  and  evening  prayers  "  during  his 
tender  years ;  but  at  present  we  only  note  how 
free  his  father  had  left  his  mind  of  Lutheran 
dogmas,  and  how  much  his  future  course  wns 
indebted  to  this  early  respect  which  the  Bishojf 
paid  to  his  son's  independence.  Reared  as 
he  was  under  a  strict  ecclesiastic,  it  is  surpris 
ing  that  up  to  his  twelfth  year  he  knew  notli- 
ing  of  "  the  plan  of  salvation,"  whether  it  argute 
his  own  inability  to  learn  it,  or  his -father's 
disbelief  in  it,  or  the  omission  of  the  latter, 
from  whatever  motives,  to  teach  it  to  his  son. 
Dr.  Swedberg,  however,  was  a  serious  and 
earnest  man,  and  under  date  of  April,  1729, 
he  thus  writes  of  the  subject  of  our  memoir  : 

(5) 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


"  Emanuel,  my  son's  name,  signifies  '  God 
with  us'  —  a  name  which  should  constantly 
remind  him  of*  the*  nearness  of  God,  and  of 
that  interior,  holy,  and  mysterious  connection, 
in  which,  througli  faith,  we  stand  with  our 
good  and  gracious  God.  And  blessed  be  the 
Lord's  name !  God  has  to  this  hour  indeed 
been  with  him  ;  and  may  God  be  further  with 
him,  until  he  is  eternally  united  with  Ilim  in 
his  kingdom." 

7.  It  may  be  mentioned  here,  aLso,  that  the 
father  of  Swedenborg  had  an  evident  natural 
tendency  to  a  faith  in  the  supernatural  charac- 
ter of  many  of  the  occurrences  of  this  life. 
"  Several  of  Bishop  Swedberg's  works," 
saya  Sandel,  "  seem  to  show  a  tendency  to 
behold  in  certain  events  a  species  of  prophetic 
indications."  The  bishop  was  particularly 
pleased  to  inform  himself  of  supernatural  ap- 
pearances, one  of  which  he  recorded  in  his 
works,  and  also  wrote  an  account  of  it  to  the 
Bishop  of  Bristol  in  1710,  wherein  he  said, 
that  "  its  truth  was  certain,"  and  had  been 
confirmed  by  the  personal  inquiries  of  Field 
Marshal  Count  Steinbock.  He  ended  his  let- 
ter to  the  bishop  thus :  "  I  am  not  inclined 
myself,  and  would  be  far  from  persuading  any 
one,  to  credulity  and  superstition.  But  may 
not  the  all-wise  God,  in  all  ages,  think  it  ne- 
cessary, by  extraordinary  instances,  to  fix 
upon  the  minds  of  mankind  some  signal  im- 
pressions of  his  overruling  power,  and  of  the 
truth  of  his  holy  gospel  ?  "  More  may  come 
out  on  this  head,  when  Bishop  Swedberg's 
Autobiography  is  published.  Here,  also,  we 
may  see,  in  part,  the  prepared  foundation  for 
the  genius  of  the  son. 

8.  The  subject  of  this  memoir,  from  his  ear- 
liest childhood,  was  reraai'kable  for  his  great  dil- 
igence and  usefulness  ;  while  every  thing  in 
him  tended  to  mature  his  mind  in  knowledge. 
His  private  character,  from  youth  to  man- 
hood, was  altogether  irreproachable.  At  the 
University  of  tjpsala,  in  Sweden,  he  received 
such  an  education  as  was  calculated  to  form 
his  character  to  virtue,  industry,  and  sohd 
learning ;  particular  attention  being  given  to 
those  branches  of  science  that  were  to  consti- 
tute his  chief  occupation  ;  such  as  mineralogy, 
the  languages,  mathematics,  and  natural  philoso- 
phy. Thus  he  began  his  career,  as  a  practical 
mechanician  and  engineer,  in  the  deepest  study 
of  the  mathematics  and  general  physics. 

y.  In  1709,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he 
took  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  for 
which  occasion  he  published  an  Academical 
Dissertation,  consisting  of  select  sentences  from 
Seneca,  and  Publius  Syrus,  the  Mimic ;  giv- 
ing parallel  aphorisms  and  passages  from 
Erasmus,  Scaliger,  and  other  writei's,  and  il- 
lustrating them  with  his  own  comments.  This 
work  is  a  ])roof  of  his  acquaintance  with  the 
best  classical  writers,  at  an  early  period  of 
life,  and  of  the  tendency  of  his  miiiJ  to  dwell 
on  higher  subjects.     It  was  ded.<..ated  to  his 


father,  in  language  expressive  of  the  most  re 
spectful  and  affectionate  regard.  The  work 
displays  superior  scholarship,  precocious  judg- 
ment, and  a  style  of  classic  purity,  which  ob- 
tained for  him  great  praise,  and  which  was  indi- 
cated, at  the  time,  by  the  dedication  to  him  of 
a  Greek  Poetic  Eulogy,  in  the  following 
words :  "  To  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  a  youth 
of  distinguished  genius,  and  illustrious  both  by 
his  birth  and  the  glory  of  his  erudition,  when 
he  published  his  '  Dissertation  and  Comments 
on  the  Maxims  of  Publius  Syrus,  and  others.'" 
In  the  same  year  he  published  a  metrical 
Version  of  the  Twelfth  Chapter  of  Ecclesias- 
tes,  which  is  much  admired  for  its  spirit,  ele- 
gance, and  poetic  feeling.  This  was  succeed- 
ed, in  1710,  by  his  Ludus  Ileliconius,  &c.,  a 
collection  of  miscellaneous  poems  in  Latin, 
among  which  is  an  excellent  ode,  in  celebra- 
tion of  a  great  victory,  gained,  principally,  by 
undisciplined  troops,  under  Steinbock,  over 
their  Danish  invaders.  The  following  is  a 
translation  of  it :  — 

"  Lulled  be  the  dissonance  of  war  —  the  crash 
Of  blood-stained  arms  —  and  let  us  listen  now 
To  sweetest  songs  of  jubilee.     From  harp 
And  thrilling  lyre,  let  melodies  of  joy 
Ring  to  the  stars,  and  every  sphere  of  space 
Glow  with  th'  inspiring  soul  of  harmony. 
Phoebus  applauds,  and  all  the  muses  swell 
Our  glory  on  their  far-resounding  chords. 
Well  may  the  youthful  poet  be  abashed, 
Who  sings  such  mighty  enterprise,  —  his  theme 
So  great,  so  insignificant  his  strain  !  — 
Let  Europe  boast  of  Sweden  —  in  the  North, 
South,  East,  and  West,  victorious.  —  Round  the 

Pole 
The  seven  Triones  dance  exultingly. 
While  Jove  the  Thunderer  sanctions  his  decree, 
Never  to  let  the  hyperborean  bear 
Sink  in  the  all-o'erwhelming  ocean  stream ; 
For  when  in  the  wave  he  bathes  his  giant  limbs, 
'Tis  but  to  rise  more  proudly.     Even  now 
The    fertile   Scandia  wreathes   her   brow  with 

flowers, 
And  Victory's  trophies  glitter  over  Sweden. 
The  God  of  battles  smiles  upon  our  race, 
And  the  fierce  Dane  sues  for  our  mercy  :  — Yea, 
The  troops  insidious  Cimbria  sent  against  us, 
Lie  scattered  by  a  warrior  young  in  arms. 
Though  Swedish  Charles,  our  hero  King's  afar 
In  Russian  battles,  his  bright  valor  fills 
The  heart  of  Steinbock  —  the  victorious  one  ;  — 
These  names  of  Charles  and  Steinbock,  like  a 

spell. 
Created  armaments,  and  hurled  pale  fear 
Among   our   foes.  —  Steinbock !  thy  red   right 

hand 
Hath  smitten  down  the  spoiler ;  and  in  thee 
Another  Charles  we  honor,  and  rejoice 
To  hail  tliee  hero  of  thy  grateful  country. 
Bind  the  triumphal  laurel  round  thy  brow  ; 
Such  chaplet  well  becomes  tlie  invincible : 
Ascend  thy  chariot  —  we  will  fling  the  palms 
Before  thee,  while  the  peal  of  martial  music 
Echoes  thy  high  celebrity  around. 
Hadst  thou  in  olden  times  of  fable  lived, 
I  had  invoked  thee  as  a  demigod. 
Behold  how  gbtteringly  in  northern  heaven 
Thy  star  exults  :  the  name  of  Magnus  fits 


LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  OF  EMxYNUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


Both  it  and  thee,  inseparably  linked  : 

In  thee,  the  grenius  of  the  Nortii  expands, 

And  all  the  virtue  of  thy  ancestry 

Illustrates  thee.     Chief  of  our  gallant  chiefs  — 

Too  gallant  for  a  song  so  weak  as  mine  — 

Oh  !  could  their  names  enshrined  in  monuments 

Appear,  how  would  the  eyes  of  Sweden  kindle 

To  read  them !     Coronets  of  gold  for  thee 

Were  all  too  little  recompense  ;  —  hereafter, 

A  crown  of  stars  is  all  tliine  own.     The  foe 

Lies  broken  by  thy  force  and  heroism  : 

Numerous   as   Denmark's   sands  they  came  — 

how  few 
Returned  —  their  princes  and  their  soldiery 
Repulsed  with  scorn,  while  shuddering  horror 

hung 
Upon    their    flight  —  Jove's    thunderstorms   as- 
sailed 
Their  bands  of  treachery,  daylight  was  eclipsed 
In  thickest  clouds,  and  the  pure  cause  of  God 
And  patriotism  triumphed.     Ay,  the  cause 
Of  Sweden's  royalty,  which  Denmark  strove  — 
How  vainly  —  to  despoil.     Our  king  perceived 
Their  rising  hatred  ;  poets  were  forbid 
To  sing  his  praise  —  his  praise  beyond  compare : 
For  this,  in  sooth,  the  land  was  steeped  in  blood ; 
Even  for  this,  the  fire  and  sword  laid  waste 
Our  native  soil.     Then  let  each  w;irrior  bind 
Tlie  laurel  chaplet,  and  the  bard  exult 
O'er  slaughtered  rebels.     For  the  destiny 
Of  Cliarles  shall  yet  awake  the  Muse's  hymns. 
Ah,  soon  return.  —  Oh,  monarch  of  our  love ! 
Oh!  Sun  of  Sweden,  waste  not  all  thy  light 
To  illume  the  crescent  of  the  Ottomans  ; 
Thy  absence  we  bewail,  wandering  in  glooms 
Of  midnight  sorrow  —  save  that  these  bright  stars 
That  lead  us  on  to  victory,  still  console 
Thy  people's  hearts,  and  bid  them  not  despair." 

10.  The  poems  of  Swedenborg  (.lis[)1ay  fancy, 
but  a  controlled  imagination.  If  we  may  con- 
vey to  the  English  reader  such  a  notion  of 
Latin  verses,  they  remind  one  of  the  Pope 
school,  in  which  there  is  generally  some  theme 
or  moral  governing  the  flights  of  the  muse. 
Under  various  forms,  they  hymn  the  praises 
of  patriotism,  love,  friendship,  and  filial  regard, 
and  they  love  mythological  clothing.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  we  find  so  methodical  a  phi- 
losopher as  Swedenborg  making  courteous 
passes  with  the  muse,  as  though  to  acknowledge 
the  truth  and  import  of  immortal  song.  Still 
his  effusions  were  hardly  more  than  a  polite 
recognition  of  poetry,  that  sweeter  and  weaker 
eex  of  truth ;  for  to  call  Swedenborg  himself 
a  great  poet,  as  Count  Ilopken  has  done,  is 
blind  and  undiscriminating.  He  did  indeed 
weave  great  poetry  at  last,  but  it  was  by  the 
order  and  machinery  of  a  stupendous  intelli- 
gence, and  poetry  so  produced  is  not  proper 
poetry  but  reason,  —  is  not  female  but  mascu- 
line truth. 

11.  There  is  not,  however,  a  poem  in  this 
collection,  more  beautiful  than  the  academi- 
cal dissertation,  which  assumes  the  pious  and 
humble  form  of  an  epistle  to  his  father.  It  is 
not  in  rhythm  indeed,  but  there  is  the  poetry  in 
it,  which  is  so  often  vainly  sought  in  measured 


syllables.  As  a  double  proof  of  the  filial 
respect  which  attached  Swedenborg  to  his 
|)arent,  and  the  tender  care  which  that  parent 
had  lavished  on  his  education,  it  possesses  an 
interest  which  fairly  entitles  it  to  a  place  in 
our  memoir. 

"  To  my  most  beloved  parent,  Jesper  Swedberg, 
Doctor  of  Theology,  and  venerable  Bishop  of  the 
diocese  of  Skara,  with  feelings  of  the  utmost 
veneration  and  love  :  — 

"  As  there  is  nothing  more  sacred  and  delight- 
ful than  to  follow  the  steps  of  our  ancestors  and 
parents,  and  especially  those  in  wliich  we  may 
imitate  as  well  as  honor  their  example,  I  experi- 
ence no  small  pleasure  and  delight  in  dedicating 
these  first  fruits  of  my  studies  and  labor  to  that 
beloved  parent,  through  whose  paternal  kindness 
and  guidance  my  mind  was  first  trained  in  piety, 
knowledge,  and  virtue.  May  I  grow  up,  with  in- 
creasing years,  in  the  imitation  of  those  deeds 
which  have  covered  the  name  of  iny  parent  with 
honor  and  celebrity ;  and  resemble  Thee,  O 
Father,  while  I  emulate  thy  literary  accomplish- 
ments !  How  much  joy  did  I  experience  when  I 
beheld  thee  present  to  witness  my  first  appearance 
in  public  !  and  what  more  suitable  opportunity 
could  I  desire  for  thee  to  witness  the  nascent, 
feeble  abilities  of  thy  son,  humbly  endeavoring  to 
imitate  the  genius  and  talents  which  have  shone  so 
resplendently  in  thee  ?  when  thou  didst  behold, 
with  an  eye  full  of  parental  love  and  complacency, 
the  studies  to  which  thou  didst  so  tenderly  prompt 
me  and  guide  me  in  my  childhood  and  youth,  daily 
brought  to  greater  maturity.  Accept,  therefore, 
Avith  a  propitious  smile,  these  first  fruits  of  my 
public  otfering  as  a  debt  of  filial  gratitude  and  of 
love.  Accept,  O  excellent  parent,  this  humble 
offering,  the  fruit  of  thy  paternal  kindness,  which 
derives  whatever  it  may  possess  of  merit  and  of 
usefulness  from  thy  paternal  care  and  solicitude  in 
my  behalf.  If  I  were  but  permitted  on  tiiis  occa- 
sion to  celebrate  thy  praises,  I  should  consider  no 
labor,  no  exertion  too  much  in  commemorating  the 
merits  thou  hast  deserved  of  thy  family  and  thy 
country  ;  but  as  I  know  that  thou  wouldst  rather 
enjoy  the  tacit,  filial  regard  and  veneration  of  thy 
son,  than  have  thy  praises  proclaimed  by  the  voice 
of  applause,  or  the  trumpet  of  fame,  I  will  also 
obey  thee  in  this  ;  and  I  will  only  say  that  as  often 
as  1  approach  the  throne  of  mercy,  and  bend  my 
knees  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  that  my 
heart  is  penetrated  with  the  most  lively  emotions, 
when  the  prayer  is  uttered  for  thy  health,  welfare, 
and  happiness.  To  God,  therefore,  the  Greatest 
and  Best,  I  pour  forth  my  grateful  thanks  that  thy 
life  has  been  hitherto  so  mercifully  spared  ;  and 
as  thy  age  is  now  advancing  with  rapid  strides, 
and  its  venerable  signs  begin  to  appear  in  tliy 
hoary  locks  and  furrowed  brow,  I,  witii  many 
others,  sincerely  pray  that  thy  life  may  be  pro- 
longed, and  tliat  tliy  declinuig  years  may  be  blessed 
with  health  and  peace.  Spared  to  our  heartfelt 
wishes,  may  thy  years  be  extended  beyond  those 
of  thy  children.  To  adopt  the  fervent  exclama- 
tion of  the  old  Romans,  —  '  Dt  nostris  annis  Tihi 
Jupiter  augeat  annos,^  May  Heaven  lengthen  thy 
days  even  at  the  expense  of  ours.  This,  dearest 
Father,  is  the  prayer  of  thy  most  dutiful  and 
obedient  son, 

"  Emanuel  Swedberg." 


8 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


Travels  and  first  Publications.  1 

12.  Swedenborg's  collegiate  period  having 
thus  closed,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  or  twenty- 
two,  according  to  the  usual  custom  of  his  day, 
he  commenced  his  travels,  by  taking  ship  to 
London  ;  during  which  excursion,  he  relates, 
in  a  letter  to  his  brother,  the  following  adven- 
tures that  befell  him. 

"  On  the  voyage,  my  life  was  in  danger  four 
times :  first,  on  some  shoals  towards  which  we 
were  driven,  until  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of 
the  raging  breakers,  and  we  thought  we  should 
perish.  Afterwards  we  were  chased  by  some 
Danish  pirates,  sailing  under  French  colors ;  and 
it  was  with  difficulty  we  escaped  them  :  the  next 
evening,  we  were  fired  into  by  a  British  vessel, 
which  mistook  us  for  the  pirates  ;  but  providential- 
ly, we  did  not  suffer  much  damage.  Lastly,  in 
London  itself,  I  was  exposed  to  a  more  serious 
danger.  While  we  were  entering  the  harbor, 
some  of  our  countrymen  came  in  a  boat  to  us,  and 
persuaded  me  to  go  with  them  immediately  into 
the  city.  Now  it  was  known  in  London,  that  an 
epidemic  was  raging  in  Sweden,  and  therefore,  all 
that  arrived  from  there,  were  forbidden,  on  pain  of 
death,  to  leave  their  ships  for  six  weeks  after  their 
arrival :  so  I,  having  transgressed  this  law,  came 
very  near  being  hanged,  and  was  only  freed,  on 
condition,  that  if  any  Swede  attempted  the  same 
thing  again,  he  should  not  escape  death." 

Thus  was  manifest  the  watchfulness  and  pro- 
tecting care  of  Providence,  to  preserve  the 
young  man  alive,  for  it  was  not  possible  that  his 
stupendous  labors  could  be  thus  spared  from  the 
world. 

13.  After  spending  a  year  in  London  and 
Oxford,  he  says  in  another  letter,  — 

"  I  went  to  Holland,  and  saw  its  chief  cities. 
At  Utrecht  I  tarried  a  long  time,  while  Congress 
was  sitting,  and  Ambassadors  were  gathering  from 
nearly  all  tlie  Courts  of  Europe.  Thence  I  went 
into  France,  passing  through  Brussels,  &c.,  to 
Paris.  Here,  and  at  Versailles,  I  spent  a  year ; 
then  I  went  by  public  coach  to  Hamburg,  and 
thence  to  Ponicrania  and  Greefswalde,  where  I 
remained  some  time,  while  Charles  the  Twelfth 
was  coming  from  Bender  to  Stralsund.  When  the 
siege  began,  I  departed  in  a  small  vessel,  together 
with  a  lady  by  tiie  name  of  Feif ;  and  by  Divine 
Providence  was  restored  to  my  own  country,  after 
more  than  four  years'  absence." 

14.  During  this  journey,  he  appears  to 
have  composed  a  small  volume  of  Fables  and 
Allegories,  in  Latin  Prose,  under  the  title  of 
*'  The  Northern  Muse,"  sporlin'j  icith  the 
deeds  of  Heroes  and  Heroines,  aftei'  the  man- 
ner of  Ovid.  They  shadow  forth  the  virtues 
and  exploits  of  certain  Scandinavians  ;  or,  as 
he  calls  them,  "  kings  and  great  people." 
This  work  was  published  in  1715,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-seven,  and  in  the  same  year,  his 
Oration  on  the  return  of  Charles  XII.  I'rom 
Turkey.  In  this  work  there  is  evidence  of 
an  acute  faculty  of  observation,  of  consider- 
able power  of  fancy  and  humor,  and  especial- 
ly of  a  regard  to  the  forms  of  mythological 
lore.     In   the   latter   respect   it   suggests  the 


Worship  and  Love  of  God,  a  work  of  thirty 
years  later  date,  which  we  shall  have  to  notice 
presently.  At  this  time  Swedenborg  wrote 
to  his  brother-in-law,  that  he  was  "  alternating 
mathematics  with  poetry  in  his  studies,"  an 
instance  of  his  early  flexibility,  and  which 
sheds  light  upon  his  future  deeds. 

15.  Young  Swedenborg  was  now  on  the  thresh- 
old of  active  life  ;  and,  from  what  his  father 
says,  it  is  evident  that  his  son  was  at  perfect 
liberty  to  choose  his  own  profession ;  for  the 
good  bishop  writes  —  "I  have  kept  my  sons 
to  that  Profession,  to  which  God  has  given 
them  inclination.  I  have  not  brought  up  one 
to  the  Clerical  office ;  although  many  parents 
do  this  inconsiderately,  and  in  a  manner  not 
justifiable  ;  by  which  the  Christian  Church 
and  the  clerical  Order,  suffer  not  a  little,  and 
are  brought  into  contempt."  What  a  bless- 
ing to  have  such  a  wise  and  discriminating 
father  !  The  profession,  to  which  our  Author 
brought  his  great  talents  and  integrity,  was 
that  of  Mining  and  Smelting,  and  various 
mechanical  and  engineering  works  :  and  his 
letters  from  abroad  show,  that  few  travel  more 
usefully.  Mathematics,  Astronomy,  and  Me- 
chanics, were  his  favorite  Sciences,  and  in 
each  of  them  he  had  already  made  great  pro- 
ficiency ;  but  his  pui'suit  of  knowledge  was 
ever  united  with  untiring  zeal  to  benefit  his 
country :  hence,  whatever  inventions,  discov- 
eries, and  good  books  he  met  with  abroad,  he 
was  sure  to  send  home,  accompanied  with 
models  and  suggestions  of  his  own. 

16.  His  versatility  of  talents  is  seen  by  his 
attachment  to  Mathematical  and  Philosophical 
researches,  as  manifested  in  the  publication  of 
his  Essays  on  these  subjects,  in  a  Periodical 
Work  which  he  edited, 'called — "  D.edalus 
Hyperboreus  ; "  or,  experimental  Mathe- 
matics and  Physics  ;  which  was  issued  from 
171 G  to  1718,  inclusive.  In  the  Preface  of 
his  Works,  he  showed  how  little  he  valued 
what  the  world  calls  '*  Impossibilities  ; "  for  he 
even  then  thought  of  vessels  for  navigating 
the  Air,  and  spoke  of  them  as  among  the 
things  which  the  Age  required :  indeed,  he 
was  imbued  with  the  very  spirit  of  our  Steam, 
Railroad,  and  Telegraphic  Era:  as  we  shall 
perceive  in  his  works  hereafter  to  be  exam- 
ined. 

17.  In  1716,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  he 
was  invited  by  Polheim,  "  the  Archimedes  of 
Sweden,"  and  Counsellor  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  and  Commander  of  the  order  of 
the  Polar  Star,  to  go  with  him  to  Lund,  and 
meet  Charles  XII.  (who  had  just  escaped  from 
Stralsund,)  and  engage  in  such  works  as  de- 
manded the  exercise  of  his  practical  skill;  as 
an  instance  of  which,  the  fact  may  be  stated, 
that  young  Swedenborg  contrived  to  transport, 
(on  rolling  machines  of  his  own  invention.) 
over  valleys  and  mountains,  two  galleys,  five 
large  boats,  and   a  sloop,  from  Stromstadt  to 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


Iderfjol,  (which  divides  Sweden  from  Norway 
on  the  south,)  a  distance  of  fourteen  miles  ;  by 
which  means,  the  King  was  able  to  carry  on 
liis  plans,  and,  under  cover  of  the  galleys  and 
boats,  to  transport  on  pontoons,  his  heavy 
artillery,  to  the  very  walls  of  Frederickshall. 
It  was  under  those  circumstances,  that  Charles 
Decarae  acquainted  with  our  Author,  and  took 
him  under  his  royal  patronage,  expressing  a 
■wish  that  he  should  become  Polheim's  assist- 
ant, and  eventually  his  successor.  Swedenborg, 
without  solicitation,  had  his  clioice  of  two  of- 
fices ;  either  a  Professorship  in  the  University 
of  Upsala,  or  Extraordinary  Assessor  of  the 
Board  of  Mines,  which  was  a  Constitutional 
Department  of  the  Government,  having  in- 
spection over  the  Mines  and  Metallic  Works, 
embracing  the  whole  mineral  wealth  of 
Sweden  :  he  preferred  the  latter,  and  a  warrant 
was  made  out  accordingly,  and  signed  by  the 
King,  who  also  wrote  a  letter  to  the  College 
of  Mines,  ordering,  that  Swedenborg  should 
have  a  seat  and  voice  in  the  Institution,  when- 
ever he  could  be  present,  and  especially,  when 
any  business  of  a  mechanical  nature  was  to 
be  considered. 

18.  Swedenborg  was  never  married  ;  which 
was  not  owing  to  any  indiflFerence  towards  the 
other  sex,  for  he  esteemed  the  company  of 
an  intellectual  woman,  as  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  pleasures.  Here,  however,  it  may 
be  proper  to  mention  an  interesting  circum- 
stance in  the  life  of  our  Author,«who  was  not 
only  Polheim's  coadjutor,  and  pupil  in  Math- 
ematics and  Mechanics,  but  was  a  sojourner 
at  his  house.  Eraerentia,  the  second  daughter 
of  Polheim,  was  a  beautiful  and  an  accom- 
plished young  lady  ;  and  it  is  not  at  all  strange 
that  Swedenborg  should  become  attached  to 
her ;  nor  that  the  King  should  persuade  her 
father  to  give  him  his  daughter  in  marriage : 
but  when  Swedenborg  perceived  that  his  love 
was  unreciprocated,  and  that  Emerentia  was 
unhappy  under  her  written  agreement  to 
marry  him  at  some  future  day,  he  freely  re- 
linquished his  claims,  and  left  the  house  with 
a  determination  never  to  enter  into  the  mar- 
I'iage  covenant ;  and  considering  the  nature  of 
hrs  studie-,  and  the  life  of  prodigious  concen- 
tration and  labor  he  was  thenceforth  to  lead, 
demanding  the  quiet  of  a  single  life,  and  the 
absence  of  ordinary  impediments  to  solitary 
and  public  energy,  we  are  rationally  satisfied 
"with  his  self-imposed  celiltacy  ;  thus  Providence 
overruled  it  for  greater  good  :  he  could  not  the7i 
have  entered  into  a  marriage,  which  would 
have  corresponded  to  his  subsequent  state. 

19.  In  1718,  at  the  age  of  thirty,  he  fur- 
nished additional  proofs  of  his  talents  and  in- 
dustry, by  publishing  an  "  Introduction  to 
Algebra,"  under  the  title  of  "  The  Art  of 
Rules ; "  which  was  honorably  reviewed  in 
the  "  Literary  Transactions  of  Sweden  ;  "  not 
only  that  the   Author   was  tlie  only   Swede, 


who  wrote  on  the  higher  branches  of  the  sub- 
ject, but  for  its  excellence,  clearness,  and 
practicability.  It  is  comprised  in  Ten  Books, 
and  treats  on  the  following  subjects :  Book  one 
contains  the  Definitions  and  Explanations  of 
the  Terms  employed,  and  the  simple  Arith- 
metical Processes.  Book  two.  The  Mechani- 
cal Powers,  the  Lever,  Pulley,  Inclined  Plane, 
&c.,  with  a  variety  of  Problems.  Book  three, 
Laws  of  Proportion  ;  also  numerous  Prob- 
lems. Book  four,  Geometrical  Theorems, 
Stereometry,  and  Specific  Gravity.  Books  five 
and  six.  The  Properties  of  the  Parabola  and 
Hyperbola,  with  numerous  other  Problems. 
Book  seven,  Theory  of  Projectiles  and  Artil- 
lery, with  many  Problems.  Books  eight, 
nine,  and  ten.  On  Adfected  Roots  and  the  In- 
tegral and  Differential  Calculus.  This  pro- 
found Work  was  followed  by  his  Neto  Method 
of  Finding  the  Longitude  of  Places  by  Lunar 
Observations. 

20.  Here  we  may  observe,  that  from  cer- 
tain Letters,  written  by  Swedenborg,  it  ap- 
pears that  he  was  far  from  being  satisfied 
with  his  position  and  prospects  ;  although  he 
enjoyed  to  its  full  extent,  the  King's  patronage 
and  friendship  ;  for  he  complains,  —  "  That 
his  labors  are  not  appreciated,  that  his  pro- 
ductions are  looked  down  upon  by  a  number 
of  political  blockheads,  as  mere  scholastic  ex- 
ercises, which  ought  to  stand  back,  while  their 
presumptuous  finesse  and  intrigues  step  for- 
ward." And  we  find  that  a  majority  in  our 
day  look  upon  the  Arts  and  Sciences  in  a 
similar  manner ;  which  is  one  great  reason 
why  they  and  Humanity  do  not  progress  more 
rapidly. 

21.  In  1719,  the  family  of  Swedberg  was 
ennobled,  by  Queen  Ulrica  Eleonora,  from 
which  time  our  Author  bore  the  name  of 
Swedenborg,  (by  which  his  nobility  was 
signified,)  and  he  took  his  seat  with  the 
Nobles  op  the  Equestrian  Order,  in 
the  Triennial  Assemblies  of  the  States  : 
but  his  new  rank  conferred  no  title,  beyond 
the  change  of  his  name  ;  nor  was  he  a  Baron, 
or  Count,  as  some  have  supposed.  In  Sweden 
he  was  always  spoken  of  as  the  Assessor  Swe- 
denborg. 

22.  In  1719,  he  published  four  Works,  first, 
A  Proposal  for  fixing  the  Value  of  Coins,  and 
determining  the  Measures  of  Sweden,  so  as  to 
sxippress  Fractions,  and  facilitate  Calcidations  : 
after  which,  he  was  commanded  by  his  Sov- 
ereign to  draw  up  an  Octonary  Computus,  (a 
mode  of  computing  by  eighths,)  which  he 
completed  in  a  few  days,  with  its  application 
to  the  received  divisions  of  Coins,  Weights,  and 
Measures  :  a  disquisition  on  Cubes  and  Squares, 
and  a  new  and  easy  way  of  extracting  Roots  ; 
all  illustrated  by  appropriate  examples.  It 
may  here  be  mentioned  that  he  had  the  honor 
of  introducing  the  Differential  Calculus  into 
Sweden  ;  also  that  he  wrote  to  Norberg,  the 


10 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


Biographer  of  Charles  XII.,  tliat  this  King, 
in  a  conversation  with  him  and  Polheim,  not 
only  proposed,  but  actually  produced  in  his 
own  handwriting,  a  Decimal  Mode  of  Numera- 
tion, founded  on  ciphers  up  to  G4 :  and  as  he 
gave  this  specimen  to  our  Author,  he  ob- 
served, "  that  he  who  knows  nothing  of  the 
Science  of  Mathematics,  does  not  deserve  to 
be  considered  a  rational  man :  "  a  sentiment, 
adds  Swedenborg,  truly  worthy  of  a  king. 
2.  His  next  Works  were,  "  A  Treatise  on 
the  Motion  and  Position  of  the  Earth  and 
Planets.  3.  Arguments  derived  from  tlie  vari- 
ous Appearances  in  the  North  of  Europe,  in 
favor  of  the  Depth  of  the  Waters  and  great- 
er Tides  of  the  Sea,  in  the  Ancient  World. 
4.    On  Docks,  Sluices  and  Salt  Works." 

23.  And  here  again,  we  hear  him  lament- 
ing that  his  country  does  not  appreciate  his 
labors,  nor  take  any  interest  in  the  mechani- 
cal and  mathematical  sciences :  he  further  says, 
truly,  "  In  every  age  there  is  an  abundance 
of  persons,  who  follow  the  beaten  track,  and 
remain  in  the  old  way  ;  while  there  are  a  few 
who  bring  forward  inventions,  founded  on 
reason  and  argument.  I  lind  that  Pluto  and 
Envy  possess  the  Hyperboreans,  (people  of 
the  north  ;)  and  that  a  man  will  prosper  bet- 
ter among  them  by  acting  the  idiot,  than  by 
remaining  a  man  of  understanding."  The 
world  around  him  was  in  the  midnight  of  the 
Past ;  but  he  clearly  saw,  in  the  distribution 
of  human  talent,  that  there  was  no  just  pro- 
portion kept  up  between  antiquity  and  genius  ; 
and  he  labored  for  the  New  Era,  which  is  now 
dawning  upon  the  earth,  —  the  day  of  the 
great  installation  of  arts,  sciences,  philosophy, 
and  religion.  His  ardent  pursuit  of  geolo- 
gy, (then  a  new  science),  was  converting  it- 
self into  speculations  about  the  universe  ;  and 
all  his  works,  up  to  this  date,  display  great 
industry,  fertile  plans,  a  belief  in  the  penetra- 
bility of  problems  usually  given  up  by  tlie 
learned,  —  a  gradual  and  experimental  faculty, 
and  an  absence  of  immaturity.  In  regard  to 
general  truths,  he  gave  the  evidence  of  a  slowly- 
apprehending,  persevering,  and,  at  last,  thor- 
oughly comprehending  mind.  His  filial  love 
was  very  strong,  and  his  energy  and  lidelity 
in  business  were  more  useful  to  him,  than 
family  connection,  or  clever  courtiership.  His 
religious  belief  does  not  any  where  appear  as 
yet ;  but  from  his  books  and  letters,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  his  mind  was  not  inactive  on  the 
greatest  of  all  subjects,  and  that  he  was  a 
plain  believer  in  revelations,  though  probably 
not  without  his  conjectures  as  to  its  meaning 
and  import.  Such  was  Swedenborg  in  the 
spring  and  tlower  of  his  long  maniiood, 

24.  In  1721,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three,  he 
visited  Holland  for  the  second  time,  with  a 
specific  view  to  professional  objects,  to  examine 
the  mines  and  smelting  works,  and  to  study 
the  natural  sciences ;  and,  besides  being  a 
contributor   to    "  The    Literary  Transactions 


of  Sweden,''  he  published  the  following 
works  at  Amsterdam:  1.  "Some  Specimens 
of  Works  on  the  Principles  of  Natural  Phi- 
losophy, comprising  new  Attempts  to  explain 
the  Phenomena  of  Chemistry  and  Physics  by 
Geometry  ;  "  2.  "  Observations  and  Discover- 
ies respecting  Iron  and  Fire,  and  particularly 
respecting  the  Elemental  Nature  of  Fire,  with 
a  new  Construction  of  Stoves ; "  3.  "  A  New 
Method  of  finding  the  Longitude  of  Places, 
on  Land,  or  at  Sea,  by  Lunar  Observations;" 
4.  "A  New  Mechanical  Plan  of  constructing 
Docks  and  Dikes ; "  5.  "  A  Mode  of  Discov- 
ering the  Powers  of  Vessels,  by  the  applica- 
cation  of  Mechanical  Principles;"  6.  "  New 
Rules  for  maintaining  Heat  in  Rooms  ; "  7. 
"  Remarks  on  the  Primeval  Ocean  ; "  8.  "  An 
Elucidation  of  a  Law  of  Hydrostatics,  demon- 
strating the  Power  of  the  deepest  Waters  of 
the  Deluge,  and  their  Action  on  the  Rocks, 
and  other  Substances,  at  the  Bottom  of  their 
Bed  ;  "  9.  "  A  New  Mechanical  Plan  of  con- 
structing Docks,  whereby  Vessels  may  be  re- 
paired in  Harbors  that  are  not  reached  by  the 
Tides;"  10.  "A  New  Construction  of  Dams, 
or  Moles,  for  arresting  the  Course  of  Rivers, 
Torrents,"  &;c. 

25.  The  air-tight  stove,  which  has  come 
into  vei-y  extensive  use  in  this  country,  for  a 
few  years  past,  was  patented,  it  is  believed, 
by  Dr.  Orr,  of  Washington  city.  The  valid- 
ity of  the  patent  was  tried  in  one  of  our 
courts  of  justice,  in  this  city,  and  the  case  was 
dismissed,  on  the  ground  that  the  specifications 
of  the  patent  were  not  sufficiently  explicit. 
It  appears  that  the  principle  of  this  stove  was 
discovered  and  made  known  by  Swedenborg 
more  than  a  century  ago. 

26.  From  Amsterdam,  in  1722,  at  the  age 
of  thirty-four,  he  went  to  Leipsic,  when  he 
published  his  '"  Miscellaneous  Observations 
about  Natural  Things,  Especially  about  Min- 
erals, Iron,  and  Fire,  on  the  Strata  of  Moun- 
tains: and  an  Essay  on  Crystallization." 
This  work  demonstrated  a  rare  power  of  col- 
lecting facts,  of  applying  principles,  and  of 
making  them  useful  to  mankind.  (The  ex- 
penses of  this  journey  were  defrayed  by  the 
Duke  of  Brunswick,  who  made  Swedenborg 
many  valuable  presents,  as  tokens  of  favor, 
friendship,  and  benevolence.)  In  this  work, 
our  author  began  his  travels  into  future  ages, 
and  intrepidly  attempted  to  scale  the  heights 
of  Nature,  that  he  might  see  its  connection 
with  spirits.  He  approached  the  fortress  of 
mineral  truth,  with  geometry  on  one  hand,  and 
mechanics  on  the  other;  while  the  laws  of 
pure  science  were  to  be  the  interpreters  of  the 
facts  of  chemistry  and  physics.  "  The  begin- 
ning of  nature,"  he  says,  "  is  identical  with 
the  beginning  of  geometry : "  he  therefore  at- 
tempted to  traverse  chemical  essence  and 
combination  by  the  fixed  truths  of  mathemat- 
ics, and  to  carry  the  pure  sciences  into  those 
which  are  mixed,  —  interpreting  the  latter  by 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


11 


the  former.  The  mixture  of  theory  and 
practice  in  his  works,  shows  tlie  extraordinary 
activity  of  his  mind,  as  well  as  his  good  sense, 
and  makes  every  thing  interesting  and  useful ; 
for  it  was  not  only  the  mi  ties  that  he  meant  to 
examine,  but  all  that  could  iix  the  attention 
of  a  traveller :  hence,  nothing  seemed  to  es- 
cape his  observation. 

27.  One  of  his  discoveries  at  this  time  was 
that  of  the  gradual  subsidence  of  the  Baltic 
Sea,  which,  with  his  geological  observations  n 
the  field,  led  him  to  conclude  that  deep  waters 
once  covered  tlie  inhabited  ground  ;  and  that  the 
unevenness  of  the  land  was  owing  to  the  accu- 
mulation of  mud,  sand,  shells,  and  stones,  at  the 
bottom  of  the  ocean,  lie  also  explained  the 
translation  of  the  huge  bowlders  which  are 
dropped  here  and  there  over  the  plains,  by  al- 
leging the  powerful  action  of  the  waves  —  a 
point  in  w^hich  his  mathematical  skill  has  been 
confirmed  by  modern  science  ;  in  numerous  in- 
stances, he  may  be  said  to  have  anticipated 
the  enlightened  speculations  of  modern  geolo- 
gists ;  but  it  would  be  inconsistent  with  our 
limits  to  dwell  upon  particulars  of  this  nature. 
We  will  only  add  that  the  celebrated  Dumas 
ascribes  to  Swedenborg  the  origin  of  the  mod- 
ern science  of  crystallography.  We  quote, 
here,  from  the  New  Jerusalem  Magazine,  of 
November,  1830:  — 

"  The  science  of  crystallography  is  of  recent 
origin,  and  has  lately  attracted  the  notice  of  some 
very  able  men.  Nearly  all  simple  substances  and 
many  of  the  compounds  found  in  nature  have  reg- 
ular tbrrns.  These  are  of  almost  every  variety  of 
shape,  but  eacli  substance  has  its  own  ;  and  this 
original  tigure,  as  it  may  be  called,  often  serves  to 
distinguish  substances  which  it  would  be  ditficult 
otherwise  to  discriminate.  The  basis  of  the 
science  is  an  analysis  of  the  various  figures,  so 
that  they  may  be  reduced  to  a  very  few  simple 
forms,  which,  by  addition  one  to  the  other,  may 
make  all  the  existing  varieties.  Tliis  subject  is 
mentioned  in  a  work  on  '  Chemical  Philosophy,' 
recently  published  in  Paris,  consisting  of  a  course 
of  lectures  delivered  in  the  college  of  Fran^^e,  by 
M.  Dumas,  a  gentleman  of  much  and  deserved 
celebrity.  There  is  a  notice  of  this  work  in  the 
forty-fifth  number  of  the  Foreign  Ciuarterly  Re- 
view, published  in  London.  M.  Dumas  distinctly 
ascribes  to  Swedenborg  the  origin  of  the  modern 
science  of  crystallography.  He  says,  '  It  is,  then, 
to  him  we  are  indebted,  fur  the  first  idea  of  mtiking 
cubes,  tetraedes,  pyramids,  and  the  different  crys- 
talline forms,  by  grouping  tiie  spheres ;  and  it  is  an 
idea  which  has  since  been  renewed  by  several  dis- 
tinguished men,  Wollaston  in  particular.'  The 
reviewer  afterwards  says,  that  the  systems  of 
Swedenborg  and  Wollaston  dilFer  essentially,  but 
l.e  does  not  state  wherein  the  difference  consists." 

28.  We  cannot  forego,  here,  a  notice  of  an- 
other subject,  which  was  the  oliject  of  Sweden- 
borg's  remark  at  this  time.  We  allude  to  the 
theory  of  the  Central  Fire  of  the  Earth. 

"  The  opinion  has  been  very  prevalent,"  he 
says,  "  tliat  the  nucleus  or  interior  of  the  eartli  is 
hollow,  and  filled  with  a  peculiar  fire ;  and  this 
has  been  attempted  to  be  proved  by  the  following 
arguments.     1.  The  earth  appears  to  have  been  at 


first  a  star,  which  in  process  of  time  was  incrust- 
ed,  and  formed  a  planet.  2.  The  earth  is  balanced 
in  the  solar  vortex,  which  seems  to  be  owing  to  an 
internal  vacuum,  whereby  the  crust  might  be  bal- 
anced like  a  hollow  globe  of  metal.  3.  There  are 
many  volcanoes  in  existence  at  the  present  day, 
and  formerly  they  were  still  more  numerous ;  fur- 
thermore, there  are  thermal  springs  and  boiling 
waters  gushing  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  4. 
Minerals  are  formed,  and  metals,  and  many  sub- 
stances undergo  various  changes  in  the  bosom  of 
the  earth  ;  moreover  flowers  spring  up.  and  the 
earth's  crust  becomes  covered  with  vegetation. 
5.  And  many  mountains  have  been  converted  into 
lime,  and  seem  to  have  been  burned  up  by  fire.  All 
these  circumstances  appear  to  prove  the  existence 
of  a  central  fire,  which,  in  particular  places,  bursts 
through  the  crust  that  encloses  it. 

"  I  admit  that  it  is  undeniable  that  a  certain 
subterranean  fire  really  exists  ;  that  is  to  say,  that 
in  some  parts  of  the  earth's  crust  a  degree  of  heat 
is  perceptible,  which  causes  thermal  springs,  vol- 
canic eruptions,  and  many  other  phenomena ;  but 
whether  this  heat  proceeds  from  the  earth's  cen- 
tre, and  whether  there  be  a  cavity  full  of  fire,  or 
an  igneous  void  —  this  is  to  the  last  degree  (ques- 
tionable, and  for  the  following  reasons.  1.  Be- 
cause fire  cannot  live,  unless  it  be  enclosed  in 
hard  bodies,  as  in  carbonaceous  matter  already 
mentioned  as  shut  up  with  the  fire  in  a  furnace. 
2.  But  if  the  furnace  contain  no  solid  fuel,  although 
it  be  full  of  flames,  no  sooner  is  it  closed,  than  the 
fire  dies  out,  lasting  in  fact  no  longer  than  the 
heat  remains  in  the  hard  bodies.  Consequently 
fire  cannot  be  kept  in  a  cavity  unless  solid  sub- 
stances be  present.  If,  therefore,  there  be  any 
heat  in  the  centre  (supposing  a  central  vacuum  to 
exist),  such  heat  must  come  from  the  substances 
of  the  crust,  instead  of  the  crustal  heat  proceed- 
ing from  the  centre.  3.  Hence  we  may  conclude 
that  heat  exists  in  many  parts  of  the  earth's  crust, 
and  not  in  others  ;  but  as  for  its  source,  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  kept  up,  see  the  observations 
on  Therunl  Springs."  —  Miscellaneous  Observa- 
tions, pp.  100,  101. 

29.  We  quote  the  following  from  his  re- 
marks on  Thermal  Springs.  After  mention- 
ing various  facts  and  experiments,  he  con- 
tiimes  :  — 

"  From  these  examples  we  may  now  proceed  to 
consider  the  subterranean  heat  which  causes  the 
warmth  of  thermal  springs ;  and  we  may  argue 
that  it  will  diffuse  itself  through  a  wjiole  moun- 
tain from  a  very  small  beginning ;  i.  e.,  from  some 
commingling  of  sulphur,  vitriol,  iron,  and  water. 
These  substances  would  prove  quite  sufficient  for 
this  result,  especially  in  stratified  mountains,  where 
the  diffusion  would  <easily  take  place,  according  to 
the  reasoning  and  experiments  already  adduced. 
These  arguments  also  prove,  that  when  heat  is 
once  shut  up  in  these  mountains,  it  may  remain  for 
centuries  without  being  extinguished  ;  but  as  soon 
as  an  opening  is  made,  it  breaks  forth  in  flames. 

"  That  there  is  some  sort  of  subterranean  fire, 
confined,  however,  to  the  crust  of  the  earth,  is  suf- 
ficiently proved  by,  1.  The  existence  of  volcanoes, 
which  vomit  flames,  as  Vesutius,  ^Etna,  and 
others.  2.  Also  of  mountains  wliich  are  occasion- 
ally hot,  and  emit  hot  fumes  or  vapors.  .'J.  Of 
others  from  which  the  hottest  springs  gush  forth. 
4.  In  many  places  calcareous  stones  are  found  to 
be  converted  into  true  lune,  and  whole  mountains 
into  chalk ;  strata  of  calcareous  stone  with  sili- 


12 


LIFE   ^VND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


cious  matter  still  enclosed  in  them,  scissel  stones, 
shells,  &-C.,  are  also  converted  into  lime  in  like 
manner.  These  facts  render  it  impossible  to  deny 
the  existence  of  a  crustal  fire  sufficient  to  pene- 
trate whole  mountains,  especially  such  as  are  lam- 
ellated  or  stratified  ;  in  which,  after  they  have  once 
been  heated,  the  fire,  provided  it  be  shut  up,  may 
last  for  ages,  without  any  great  consumption  of 
materials."  —  Miscellaneous  Observations,  pp.  34, 
35. 

30.  The  above  extracts  are  merely  frag- 
mentary, taken  from  the  author's  passing  re- 
marks, and  only  given  to  show  his  manner  of 
thinking  at  this  stage  of  his  experience. 
Modern  geology  may  think  of  it  as  it  pleases. 

31.  The  following,  also,  is  the  concluding 
paragraph  of  his  "  Reasons  to  show  that  Min- 
eral Effluvia,  or  Particles,  penetrate  into  their 
Matrices,  and  impregnate  them  with  Metal, 
by  means  of  water  as  a  vehicle,"  —  in  other 
words,  his  idea  of  the  generation  of  metals  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth.     He  says,  however, 

"  I  am  not  at  present  speaking  of  the  origin  of 
the  effluvia  or  exhalations,  but  only  of  their  ingress 
into  the  veins  :  should  any  one  be  inclined  to  de- 
duce the  origin  of  the  particles  from  any  kind  of 
fire,  above  or  below,  I  shall  not  here  oppose  him. 
Nor  shall  I  object  to  any  one  concluding  that 
there  is  an  influx  of  metallic  particles  from  the  rays 
of  the  planets,  or  from  the  lightest  and  most  mo- 
bile rays  of  the  sun,  which  may  still  be  extremely 
cold." 

32.  He  thus  concludes  the  article  :  — 

"  Since,  therefore,  the  above-mentioned  waters 
are  of  such  very  different  kinds,  some  being  im- 
pregnated with  sulphurs,  others  with  mercury,  and 
others  again  witli  salt  or  other  particles  adapted  to 
this  combination,  and  if  we  may  fomi  an  opinion 
accordingly,  we  conjecture  that  such  or  sucli  a 
metal  grows  or  is  composed  by  the  meeting  of 
these  ditferent  waters.  And  perhaps  posterity 
will  discover  some  art,  unknown  to  us,  of  making 
certain  species  of  metals  by  the  mixture  of  differ- 
ent waters  impregnated  with  sulphurs,  vitriol^, 
&c.  On  the  above  principle  it  is,  that  in  the  same 
matrice,  and  in  the  same  stratum,  we  frequently 
find  four  or  five  kinds  of  metals  together,  thus  sil- 
ver is  frequently  mixed  with  copper,  lead,  and 
gold  ;  copper  with  zinc,  bismuth,  tin,  cobalt,  and 
marcasites  of  the  most  various  kinds ;  which,  in 
our  opinion,  may  have  derived  their  origin  from  the 
jneeting  of  different  waters,  tliat  brought  with 
them  the  most  simple  particles  of  sulphur,  salts, 
mercuries,  &,c.,  &c."  —  Miscellaneous  Observa- 
tions, pp.  118,  126,  127. 

33.  Another  paragraph  we  give  on  Petri- 
faction :  — 

"  If,  then,  we  may  use  conjectures  and  ideas,  in 
conjunction  with  experience,  to  enable  us  to  pros- 
eeute  those  subjects  that  are  not  obvious  to  the 
external  senses,  ^^^e  may  suppose  that  the  petrify- 
ing juice  is  the  fluid  which  oozes  and  exudes  from 
the  harder  stones,  such  as  spar,  quartz,  stalactite, 
&c. ;  or  is  tlie  same  fluid  that  converts  sotl  sub- 
stances into  rock  or  stone,  and  otherwise  forms 
invo  crystals.  Our  reason  is,  that  tliis  fluid  is 
much  more  subtle  than  the  dropping  water  already 
mentioned  as  producing  the  stalactite,  and  the 
stony  particles  contained  in  it  are  smaller  and 
-subtler  than  those  existing  in  the  latter;  in 
the  same   way  as  when  salt  water  is  subjected  to 


distillation,  the  larger  saline  particles  are  broken 
into  smaller  ones,  that  is,  into  acids,  which  in  this 
state  appear  to  exert  quite  a  different  eflfect  from 
that  of  the  salts  when  larger  and  entire."  —  Mis- 
cellaneous Observations,  p.  1^32. 

34.  Take,  also,  a  brief  remark  on  Taste :  — 
"  Every  metal  has  particles  of  its  own  of  a  pe- 
culiar form ;  silver  has  its  own  particles  ;  lead  and 
iron  also  ;  as  proved  by  the  phenomena  of  crys- 
tallization. Thus  silver  crystallizes  in  one  way, 
iron  in  another,  lead  in  a  third.  Every  metal  forms 
crystals  corresponding  to  the  shape  of  its  parti- 
cles. This  is  also  proved  by  the  very  diflferent 
tastes  of  ditferent  metallic  solutions.  The  solution 
of  one  metal  is  austere  ;  that  of  another  is  sweet; 
a  third  is  exceedingly  nauseous,  of  which  mercury 
is  an  example ;  a  fourth  is  very  bitter,  like  silver. 
This  variety  of  taste  must  surely  result  from  the 
form  of  the  particle,  which,  in  proportion  as  it  is 
pointed,  impresses  a  varying  sensation  on  the  paj>- 
illae  of  the  tongue."  —  Miscellaneous  Observations, 
p.  75. 

35.  The  following  is  interesting  on  Light, 
Sight,  and  Sound:  — 

"  It  Avould  appear  that  the  exquisitely  minute 
particles  of  ether  cannot  exhibit  the  phenonaena 
of  light,  unless  they  are  struck  by  particles  equal- 
ly fine  and  small.  If  the  latter  be  too  large, 
notliing  more  than  a  slow  and  exceedingly  dull 
undulation  will  take  place  in  the  former ;  but  the 
reverse  if  both  sets  of  particles  be  of  one  small- 
ness.  Thus,  1.  The  ether  may  be  set  vibrating 
by  mercury  with  its  very  minute  particles,  espe- 
cially in  a  vacuum.  2.  In  like  manner  the  ether 
may  be  made  to  vibrate,  or  tlie  ray  to  undulate,  by 
any  very  subtle  exhalations,  either  whole,  or  de- 
composed in  the  air,  for  instance,  by  saline  ramenta, 
by  urinous  and  sulphurous  matters,  provided  their 
particles  be  extremely  minute.  3.  By  the  most 
delicate  ramenta  of  salts,  when  broken,  as  in  the 
sea.  4.  By  decayed  wood,  whilst  emitting  subtle 
particles.  5.  And  by  the  effluvia  of  certain  ani- 
mals excited  by  motion  and  friction.  G.  I  need 
hardly  say,  also  by  fire,  whose  particles  are  so 
amazingly  subtle,  and  when  undulating  will  cause 
an  undulation  in  the  rays,  or  a  vibration  in  the 
ether.  7.  So,  also,  the  rays  from  the  sun  will 
undulate  through  the  whole  sky.  Hence,  accord- 
ing to  the  buUular  hypothesis,  it  appears,  for  the 
reasons  already  stated,  that  light  may  arise  in  cold 
substances  as  well  aa  in  hot,  and  in  the  dry  and 
the  moist  alike. 

The  sensation  of  sight  points  in  a  manner  to  a 
similar  conclusion.  The  sensations  that  we  have 
appear  to  be  nothing  more  than  tiie  very  subtle 
motions  in  the  smaller  jvarticles  :  and  as  the  most 
subtle  motion  amongst  such  particles  can  hardly 
be  other  than  undulatory  and  vibratory,  so  I  do  not 
know  why  those  persons  should  be  mistaken,  who 
maintain  that  sensations  arc  merely  vibrations  or 
very  s  .b.*J,e  motions  in  the  membranes  of  oui 
frame.  It  does  not  seem  possible  that  the  light  in  our 
eyes  can  be,  1.  Any  quiescent  or  passive  thing. 
2.  Or  any  occult  quality,  for  we  find  in  the  organ  a 
mechanism  for  receiving  the  rays.  3.  We  see 
the  internal  tunics  or  meninges  brought  from  the 
interior  of  the  head,  and  exposed  immediately  to 
tlie  rays.  4.  We  see  a  variety  of  different  tunics 
and  fluids  in  the  eye.  5.  In  the  inner  part,  where 
the  rays  are  collected,  we  observe  a  reticular 
lining,  so  that  no  ray  can  escape  coming  in  contact 
with  a  considerable  portion  of  the  membrane 
therein.     G.  We  find  these  membranes  conjoined 


LITE    AND    WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


13 


with  the  internal  membranes,  and  the  rays  received 
communicated  to  the  meninges  of  the  brain.  7. 
As,  therefore,  sensation  must  consist  of  some  mo- 
tion, and  as  the  smallest  motion  is  the  vibratory 
and  undulatory,  I  am  not  aware  that  there  is  any 
impropriety  in  assuming  tliat  sight  or  vision  con- 
sists in  the  undulation  of  the  rays  in  the  mem- 
branes of  the  eye.  8.  In  the  same  manner  as 
tound,  which  we  know  for  certain  is  produced  by 
(he  undulation  of  the  air  ;  for  the  ear  is  mechanic- 
ally formed  for  its  reception;  it  is  tortuous,  fur- 
nished with  membranes,  a  tympanum,  cochlea, 
various  nerves  of  tlie  utmost  delicacy,  malleus, 
incus,  and  all  the  apparatus  necessary  for  vibra- 
tion. These  subjects,  however,  will  be  treated 
open  elsewhere.  At  present  it  is  sufficient  to 
have  pointed  out,  that  light  is  nothing  more  than  a 
motion  of  tiie  smallest  particles,  that  is  to  say,  of 
rays ;  and  as  the  vibratory  is  the  most  subtle  mo- 
tion, we  may  perhaps  tind  fresh  proofs  of  the  ex- 
istence of  light  in  the  buUular  hypothesis,  and  the 
principle  of  the  undulation  of  rays.  But  as  we  are 
treating  of  invisibles,  and  as  thought  and  geome- 
try are  alone  at  our  service  in  the  investigation,  so 
we  will  submit  our  views  to  the  criticism  of  the 
learned  ;  and  if  tliey  can  bring  forward  facts  to  re- 
fute our  notions,  we  shall  receive  the  information 
in  the  most  grateful  spirit"  —  Miscellaneous  Obser- 
vations, pp.  104-(3. 

36.  Our  author's  remarks  on  improved 
Stoves,  Fireplaces,  and  the  Cause  and  Cure 
of  Smoky  Chimneys,  exhibit  the  Count  Rum- 
ford  and  Franklin  spirit  to  a  remarkable  de- 
gree ;  but  we  have  no  room  for  extracts. 

37.  In  the  preface  of  his  Treatise  on  the  Prin- 
ciples of  Chemistry,  he  observes,  that  physics 
and  chemistry  are  essentially  geometrical,  and 
that  the  variety  of  experiments  in  both,  can 
be  nothing  more  than  variety  in  position, 
figure,  weight  and  motion  of  the  particles 
of  bodies ;  consequently,  that  the  facts  of 
these  sciences  must  indicate  the  geometrical 
forms  and  mechanical- motions  of  the  elements 
of  substances.  As  the  phenomena  of  the 
heavens  have  at  length  suggested  an  astrono- 
my, founded  on  mechanical  laws,  and  involv- 
ing definite  forms  and  movements,  so,  it  was 
his  design  to  elicit  from  the  phenomena  of 
chemistry,  the  shapes,  motions,  and  other  con- 
ditions of  the  atoms,  or  unities  of  bodies,  and 
thus  to  introduce  clearness  into  our  conception 
of  chemical  combinations  and  decompositions. 
He  did  not  doubt,  that  chemistry,  in  its  inmost 
bosom,  was  amenable  to  the  rules  of  mechan- 
ics, and  that  there  was  nothing  necessarily 
mysterious  in  it,  nothing  occult,  nothing  but  a 
peculiar  portion  of  the  ubiquitous  clockwork 
of  time  and  space.  His  theory  is,  that  round- 
ness is  the  form  adapted  to  motion ;  that  tiie 
particles  of  Huids,  and  specifically  of  water, 
are  round  hollow  spherules,  with  a  subtle  mat- 
ter, identical  with  ether,  or  caloric,  in  their 
interiors  and  interstices ;  that  the  crust,  or 
crustal  portion,  of  each  particle,  is  formed  of 
lesser  particles,  and  these  again  of  lesser,  and 
so  on  ;  water  being,  in  this  way,  the  sixth 
dimension,  or  the  result  of  the  sixth  grouping 


of  the  particles ;  that  the  interstices  of  the 
fluids  furnish  the  original  moulds  of  the  solids, 
and  the  rows  of  crustal  particles,  forced 
oft",  one  by  one,  by  various  agencies,  furnish 
the  matter  of  the  same  ;  that  after  solid  par- 
ticles are  thus  cast  in  their  appropriate  moulds, 
their  fracture,  aggregation,  the  fillings  in  of 
their  pores  and  interstices,  by  lesser  particles, 
and  a  number  of  other  and  accidental  condi- 
tions, provide  the  unities  of  the  multiform 
substances  of  which  the  mineral  kingdom  is 
composed ;  according  to  which  theory,  there 
is  but  one  substance  in  the  worhl,  which  is  the 
first ;  the  difference  of  things  is  difference  of 
form ;  there  are  no  positive,  but  only  relative 
atoms ;  no  metaphysical,  but  only  real  elements ; 
moreover,  the  heights  of  chemical  doctrine 
can  be  scaled  by  rational  induction  alone, 
planted  on  the  basis  of  analysis,  synthesis  and 
observation.  The  Neivton  of  chemistry  has 
not  yet  arisen,  but  when  he  does  appear, 
Swedenborg  will  doubtless  be  recognized  as 
its  Copernicus. 

38.  After  his  return  from  Germany  to 
Stockholm,  in  1722,  he  published,  anonymous- 
ly, a  work  on  the  Rise  and  Depreciation  of 
the  Swedish  Currency.  He  was  decidedly  op- 
posed to  a  paper  currency,  unless  it  repre- 
sented a  specie  basis  of  equal  amount ;  remark- 
ing, in  his  Memorial  to  the  Senate  of  Sweden, 
"  that  an  empire  which  could  submit  with  only 
a  representative  currency,  would  be  without  a 
parallel."  And  we  plainly  see  the  folly  of 
such  an  attempt,  in  the  issuing  of  the  old 
Continental  Paper,  by  the  American  Colonies, 
millions  of  which  were  never  redeemed. 

39.  At  this  time  he  entered  upon  the  duties 
of  the  Assessorship,  whose  function  he  had 
previously  been  unwilling  to  exercise,  until 
he  had  acquired  perfect  knowledge  of  Metal- 
lurgy ;  hence,  he  cannot  be  ranked  with  those, 
who,  without  capacity,  solicit  and  obtain  places 
of  trust  and  profit,  while  destitute  of  the  re- 
quisite knowledge  to  fill  them  properly.  Dur- 
ing the  next  eleven  years,  he  divided  his  time 
and  labors  between  the  Royal  College  of  the 
Board  of  Mines,  and  his  studies  illustrating 
Practice  and  Theory  in  Business,  and  Prac- 
tice and  Theory  in  Science. 

40.  In  a  letter  to  his  brother-in-law,  about 
this  time,  he  makes  the  following  amusing 
remarks  :  "  It  is  the  fatality  of  Mathemati- 
cians to  remain  chiefly  in  theory.  I  have 
often  thought  it  would  be  a  capital  thing,  if, 
to  each  ten  Mathematicians,  one  good  practi- 
cal man  were  added,  to  lead  -the  rest  to  mar- 
ket ;  he  would  be  of  more  use  and  mark 
than  all  the  ten."  One  can  now  see  why  he 
would  not  accept  the  Professorship  of  pure 
Mathematics  that  was  offered  him,  but  pre- 
ferred the  Assessorship ;  for  he  evidently  de- 
sired to  see  all  truths  and  principles  brought 
into  practice. 

41.  In  1729,  at  the  age  of  forty-one,  he  was 


14 


lif::  and  writings  of  emanuel  swedenborg. 


elected  a  member  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Sciences,  at  Stockholm  ;  and  was  one  of  its 
most  useful  and  efficient  members,  both  at 
home  and  abroad.  Tiie  eminence  of  this  In- 
stitution may  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that 
so  learned  and  scientific  a  man  as  Swedenborg, 
was  not  made  one  of  its  members  before. 

The  Principia. 

42.  We  now  enter  upon  another  era,  in  this 
great  man's  life,  wlien  his  experimenting 
youth  and  manhood  were  past,  and  he  came 
into  possession  of  a  region  all  his  own,  and 
ruled  there  without  a  rival,  for  owing  to  a 
■want  of  discernment  in  his  contemporaries,  he 
inhabited  his  intellectual  estate,  unquestioned, 
unlimited,  uncontradicted,  and  alone.  His 
wondrous  career  now  commences,  in  the  pub- 
lication of  that  masterpiece  of  human  Avork- 
manship  —  the  Principia. 

43.  In  May  1733,  at  the  age  of  forty-five, 
with  the  permission  of  Charles  XII.,  king  of 
Sweden,  he  went  abroad  for  the  third  time, 
for  the  purpose  of  storing  his  mind  with  every 
kind  of  knowledge,  which  was  necessary  to 
the  success  of  his  undertaking,  and  to  publish 
his  great  work,  in  three  folio  volumes,  of  about 
four  or  five  hundred  pages,  each,  —  entitled 
Philosophical  and  Mineral  Works  ;  embracing 
the  results  of  the  profoundest  researches  into 
the  domains  of  nature,  from  her  primordial 
elements,  to  her  greatest  organic  phenomena. 
Although  there  are  three  distinct  works,  each 
treating  on  different  subjects,  and  dedicated  to 
different  persons,  yet  they  are  all  published 
together,  and  were  always  alluded  to  by 
Swedenborg,  as  one  work. 

44.  The  first  volume  is  called,  "  The  Prin- 
cipia, or  the  First  Principles  of  Natural 
Things,  being  a  New  Attempt  towards  a  Phil- 
osophical Explanation  of  the  Elementary 
World."  This  part  may  be  regarded  as  a 
Treatise  on  Cosmogony,  in  which  the  Author 
attempts  to  arrive  at  the  cause,  or  origin  of 
the  universe,  by  modes  of  inquiry  peculiar  to 
himself.  He  takes  the  position,  that  nature, 
in  all  her  operation,  is  governed  by  one  and 
the  same  general  law,  and  is  always  consistent 
with  lierself :  hence  he  says,  there  is  necessity 
in  explaining  her  hidden  recesses,  to  multiply 
experiments  by  observation.  The  means  lead- 
ing to  true  philosophy,  he  represents  as  three- 
fold. 1.  A  knowledge  of  facts,  or  experi- 
mental observation,  which  he  calls  Experience. 
2.  The  orderly  arrangement  of  those  facts, 
phenomena,  or  effects,  which  he  calls  Geometry, 
or  Rational  Philosophy.  3.  The  Faculty  of 
Reasoning :  by  which  is  meant,  the  ability  to 
analyze,  compare,  and  combine  these  facts, 
after  they  have  been  reduced  to  order,  and 
they  present  themselves  distinctly  to  the  mind. 
Among  other  positions  he  takes,  is  this,  which 
is  proved  by  modern  science  ;  ''  it  is  possible, 
that  many  things    of  opposite   natures,   may 


exist  from  the  same  first  cause  ;  as  fire  and 
iruter,  and  air  which  absorbs  them  both." 

4").  The  above  three  folio  volumes,  were  beau- 
tifully printed  in  Latin,  at  Leipsic  and  Dres- 
den, enriched  and  adorned  with  a  vast  number 
of  copperplate  engravings,  illustrative  of  the 
subjects  treated  of,  and  an  engraved  likeness 
of  the  Author  ;  all  done  at  the  expense  of  the 
Duke  of  Brunswick,  at  whose  cost  Sweden- 
borg was  always  entertained,  with  distin- 
guished favor.  The  Principia  is  translated  into 
English  and  published  in  two  large  octavo 
volumes,  at  the  price  of  seven  dollars.  Tl)is 
is  truly  a  magnificent  work,  and  will  speak 
for  itself,  centuries  to  come.  Indeed,  in  many 
respects,  but  little  advance  has  since  been 
made,  beyond  the  points  which  our  Author 
reached.  It  is  regarded  by  many,  as  far  su- 
perior to  the  Principia  of  Newton. 

46.  One  would  hardly  imagine,  that  there  are 
such  mighty  principles  to  be  found,  under  the 
modest  and  simple  title  of  "  Philosophical  and 
Mineral  Works  ;"  but  there  is  great  meaningin 
this  uncommon  blending :  for  Philosophy  is 
nothing,  unless  united  with  a// things ;  and  in  the 
ascending  scale  of  its  alliances,  it  solicits  the 
aid  of  the  mineral  universe  before  arriving  at 
the  higher  degrees  of  elementary  forces,  the 
region  of  Causes,  the  Human,  and  the 
ETERNAL.  This  Work  is  rendered  more 
interesting,  on  account  of  its  containing  the 
germs  of  the  sublime  system  of  Geological 
Science,  which  stands  forth  so  prominently  at 
the  present  day. 

47.  In  his  chapter,  "  On  the  Means  Avhich 
conduce  to  True  Piiilosophy,  and  on  the  True 
Philosopher,"  he  maintains  that  no  one  can 
acquii-e  the  former,  and  not  become  the  latter; 
also,  that  no  one  can  become  a  true  philoso- 
pher, who  is  not  a  good  man.  Previous  to 
the  Fall,  he  says,  "  when  man  was  in  a  state 
of  integrity,  he  had  all  the  essentials  of  wis- 
dom and  true  philosophy  inscribed  on  his 
heart :  he  had  then  but  to  open  his  eyes,  in 
order  to  see  the  causes  of  all  the  phenomena 
of  the  universe  around  him  ;  but  in  his  present 
state  of  sin  and  nonconformity  to  Divine 
Order,  he  is  obliged  to  investigate  truths 
by  a  laborious  external  application  of  the 
mind." 

48.  R.  M.  Patterson,  late  Professor  in  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  says  respecting 
the  Principia,  —  "  It  is  an  extraordinary  pro- 
duction of  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
men  that  has  ever  lived.  The  air  of  mysti- 
cism, which  is  generally  thought  to  pervade 
Swedenborg's  Ethical  and  Theological  Writ- 
ings, has  prevented  philosophers  from  paying 
that  attention  to  his  physical  productions,  of 
which  I  now  see  they  are  worthy.  Many  of 
the  experiments  and  observations  on  Magnet- 
ism, presented  in  this  work,  are  believed  to  be 
of  much  more  modern  date,  and  are  unjustly 
ascribed  to  much  more  recent  authors." 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


15 


49.  "  Its  pervading  idea  is  the  recognition 
of  external  objects  as  the  product  of  internal 
powers,  and  this  not  as  to  form  only,  but  as 
to  their  matter  and  subsistence.  In  oilier 
words,  it  occupies  high  ground  in  explaining  the 
generation  of  the  elements,  and  ultimately  of 
6olid  matter,  from  the  occult  forces  playing  with- 
in nature,  as  well  as  in  its  attempted  explana- 
tion of  those  forces  themselves,  —  their  origin, 
and  their  procedure  till  they  become  material- 
ized ;  the  great  end  which  its  Author  already 
had  in  view  carrying  him  beyond  mere  ap- 
pearances in  one  of  the  most  material  branches 
of  physiology.  Two  things  are  virtually  as- 
sumed in  all  its  deductions,  namely,  the 
absolute  reality  of  the  Infinite  and  the  exist- 
ence of  finite  entities ;  it  has  a  good  founda- 
tion, therefore,  in  common  sense,  and  has  ne- 
cessarily a  religious  tendency.  Descending 
from  '  The  First  Natural  Point,'  —  a  term 
by  which  pure  motion  is  designated,  Svveden- 
borg  defines  the  phenomena  of  heat,  light, 
magnetism,  and  the  elementary  substances 
themselves,  as  so  many  graduated  manifesta- 
tions of  Infinite  Activity.  In  the  course  of 
his  demonstrations  he  anticipated  many  discov- 
eries which  are  considered  of  more  recent  date, 
and  amongst  others  the  identity  of  electricity 
and  lightning,  and  the  stellar  constitution  of 
the  Milky  Way,  together  with  a  complete 
theory  of  tellurian  magnetism."  It  was  in 
June  1752,  we  believe,  that  Franklin's  cele- 
brated experiment  was  performed  with  the 
lightning,  by  which  its  identity  with  electricity 
was  established.  Yet  no  less  than  nineteen 
years  previously,  in  1733,  Swedenborg's  Prin- 
cipia  was  pubHshed,  in  which  this  same  truth 
is  reasoned  out  as  a  minor  consequent  to  his 
philosophy.  "  Such  are  the  coincidences," 
remarks  a  London  reviewer,  "  which  have 
never  yet  failed  in  us  in  any  attempted  appli- 
cation of  Swedenborg's  philosophy,  and  which 
might  surprise  even  the  sceptic  into  a  belief 
of  the  brilliancy  and  originality  of  his  genius." 
In  respect  to  tellurian  magnetism,  "  '  the  theory 
of  Swedenborg  incontestably  proves  the  exist- 
ence of  the  magnetic  clement ;  it  establishes, 
that  the  particles  of  this  element  being  spher- 
ical, the  tendency  of  their  motion  is  either  spi- 
ral, or  vortical,  or  cii'cular  ;  that  as  each  of 
these  motions  requires  a  centre,  whenever  the 
particles  meet  with  a  body,  which,  by  the  reg- 
ularity of  the  pores,  and  the  configuration  and 
position  of  its  parts,  is  adapted  to  their  motion, 
they  avail  themselves  of  it,  and  form  around 
it  a  magnetical  vortex  ;  that  if  this  body  pos- 
sesses an  activity  [that  is,  an  active  sphere] 
of  its  own,  if  its  parts  are  fiexible,  and  if  its 
motions  are  similar  to  tliat  of  the  particles,  it 
will  be  so  much  the   more  disposed  to  admit 

them Whence  it  follows  that  the 

magnetism  of  bodies  depends  not  on  their  sub- 
stance but  their /or»i.'  Some  of  the  results 
of  this  theory  are  confirmed  by  the  brilliant 


discoveries  of  Farraday,  and  it  is  probably 
destined  to  take  its  place,  along  with  Sweden- 
borg's general  doctrine  of  spheres,  or  exhala- 
tions, as  the  only  hypothesis  capable  of  ex- 
plaining the  phenomena  and  correlation  of 
forces. 

50.  "  Various  hypotheses  intended  to  explain 
the  phenomena  of  planetary  motion  had  been 
constructed,  from  time  to  time,  on  the  general 
principle  that  the  jdanets  were  carried  round 
the  sun  by  its  supposed  ambient  ether,  or 
vortex.  The  most  remarkable  of  these  the- 
ories were  those  of  Kepler,  Descartes,  and 
Leibnitz,  who  not  only  preceded  Swedenborg, 
but  were  already  thrown  into  the  shade 
by  the  successes  of  Newton,  —  who  made  his 
calculations  on  the  presumption  that  the 
planets  moved  in  a  vacuum,  —  before  our  phi- 
losopher published  his  '  Principia.'  Far 
from  dismayed  by  these  circumstances,  Swe- 
denborg boldly  attempted  to  reconcile  the 
laws  of  gravity  with  the  existence  of  a  vortex, 
and,  though  it  still  remains  for  the  highest 
authorities  to  pass  judgment  on  this  attempt, 
it  is  sufficient  evidence  of  his  great  genius  that 
the  circumstances  affecting  the  periodicity  of 
the  comets  of  En  eke  and  Bella,  have  left 
Astronomers  no  alternative  but  an  accommoda- 
tion of  this  nature.  Every  one  may  perceive 
how  irrational  it  would  be  to  suppose  an  im- 
mense void  between  the  soul  and  the  body. 
On  the  same  principle,  it  is  equally  contrary  to 
reason  to  imagine  its  interposition  between  the 
sun  as  the  moving  power,  and  the  earth.  One 
of  its  first  consequences  is  inconsistent  with 
all  analogy ;  plants  and  animals  invariably 
grow  from  a  central  point,  and  tracks  of  sen- 
sation or  vital  energy  are  always  laid  between 
that  centre  and  its  remotest  appurtenances ; 
this  is  the  one  unvarying  plan  on  which  all 
unities  are  constructed.  To  look  at  the  Uni- 
verse as  a  whole,  it  is  perfectly  consistent 
with  this  analogy  to  regard  a  planet  as  one 
mighty  limb  ;  or,  more  humbly,  as  a  single 
leaf  on  the  tree  of  universal  life ;  and  then 
how  unreasonable  it  becomes  to  suppose  that 
it  was  ever  endowed  with  the  separate  and ' 
independent  forces  ascribed  to  it  by  the  New- 
tonian hypothesis  !  It  would  be  as  easy  to 
imagine  that  the  leaf  was  created  by  itself,  and 
hung  upon  the  tree,  or  that  all  the  parts  of 
the  body  were  separately  produced,  and  their 
independent  functions  subsequently  formed 
into  a  system.  Swedenborg,  therefore,  has 
wisely  endeavored  to  reconcile  the  demonstra- 
tions of  Newton  with  the  ancient  hypothesis 
of  a  solar  vortex,  and  to  show  how  the  planets, 
and  planetary  motion,  are  derived  from  the 
Sun."  —  Rich's  Sketch,  ■p'^.  17-20. 

51.  In  short,  Swedenborg  makes  the  magnetic 
element  the  agency  which  controls  the  plan- 
etary movements.  In  other  words,  he  resolves 
the  power  of  gravitation  into  magnetism,  and 
shows,  moreover,  that  precisely  the  same  laws 


16 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS    OF    EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


which  govern  a  single  particle  of  matter  in 
its  properties  of  motion,  govern  also  all  the 
heavenly  bodies  in  their  orbitual  revolutions. 

"  Inasmuch,"  he  says,  "  as  nature  maintains 
the  highest  similarity  to  herself,  both  in  her  great- 
est and  in  her  least  entities,  we  may,  from  what 
we  see  and  feel,  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  what 
we  neither  see  nor  foel.  Tims  has  nature  designed 
that  we  should  be  instructed  througli  Xhe  medium 
of  the  senses  :  in  addition  to  which  is  imparted  to 
us  a  soul,  and  to  the  soul  a  faculty  of  reasoning 
and  analyzing,  a  faculty  wjiich  may  extend  its 
operations  even  to  tlie  senses  ;  so  that,  by  help  of 
reasoning  and  analysis,  or  of  the  ratios  of  the 
things  we  sensate,  we  may  arrive  at  some  knowl- 
edge of  those  we  do  not. 

"  The  magnet  with  the  play  of  its  forces  we  both 
see  and  we  do  not  see  ;  hence  our  wonder  at  the 
phenomena  it  presents.  In  the  magnet  and  its 
sphere  there  is  however  a  type  and  effigy  of  the 
heaven  ;  a  mundane  system  in  miniature  presented 
to  our  senses  and  brought  within  the  limits  of  our 
comprehension.  In  the  sphere  of  the  magnet  are 
spiral  gyrations  or  vorticles  ;  in  like  manner  in  the 
sidereal  heavens  there  are  spiral  gyrations  and 
vortices.  In  every  vorticle  round  the  magnet 
there  is  an  active  centre  ;  in  every  vortex  in  the 
heaven  there  is  also  an  active  centre.  In  every 
vorticle  round  the  magnet  the  motion  is  quicker 
near  the  centre  than  it  is  at  a  distance  from  it ; 
the  same  is  the  case  in  every  vortex  in  the  heaven. 
In  every  vorticle  round  the  magnet  the  spiral  gyra- 
tion is  of  greater  curvature  in  proportion  to  its 
nearness  to  the  centre  ;  the  same  is  the  case  with 
every  vortex  in  the  heaven.  In  every  vorticle 
round  the  magnet  there  are,  in  all  probability,  cor- 
puscles fluent  round  the  centre  and  revolving 
round  an  axis  ;  such  also  is  the  case  with  every 
vortex  in  the  heaven.  The  vorticles  round  the 
magnet  mutually  colligate  themselves  by  means 
of  their  spiral  motions,-  and,  thus  colligated,  form 
a  larger  sphere ;  the  same  is  the  case  in  the  si- 
dereal heaven  ;  —  not  to  mention  other  points  of 
agreement  of  which  we  shall  speak  in  the  sequel. 
All  things  are  similar  one  to  the  other ;  because 
in  small  things  as  well  as  in  large,  nature  preserves 
the  greatest  similarity  to  herself;  especially  as  the 
vorticles  round  the  magnet  possess  particles  and 
elements  of  the  same  nature  as  the  vortices  of  the 
great  heaven  ;  and  inasmuch  as  these  vortices  are 
similar,  as  well  as  their  causes,  therefore  the 
etfects  produced  are  similar. 

"  Now  inasmuch  as  man  is  not  created  prone  to 
the  earth  like  beasts,  but  is  endowed  both  with  an 
upright  mien  in  order  to  enable  him  to  look  up- 
ward to  the  heavens,  and  with  a  soul  derived  from 
the  aura  of  a  purer  and  better  world,  in  virtue  of 
which  lie  is  allied  to  heaven  ;  let  us  avail  ourselves 
of  this  privilege  to  exalt  our  thoughts  to  the  re- 
gions above ;  and  from  a  vile  stone  of  the  earth 
and  its  magnetic  powers,  contejnpUite  what  is  simi- 
lar on  the  largest  scale,  and  learn  the  nature  and 
laws  of  the  material  heavens  both  visible  and  in- 
visible." —  Principia,  vol.  ii.  pp.  230,  231. 

52.  What  can  be  more  philosophically  beau- 
tiful than  the  above  analogy  ?  Svvedenborg 
moreover  observes  that  the  axis  of  our  own 
universe  is  in  the  galaxy ;  that  here  conse- 
quently the  magnetic  power  is  the  strongest, 
and  hence  that  here  we  find  the  greatest  con- 
densation of  solar  systems ;  that  our  own  sun 


is  not  in  this  axis  but  a  little  out  of  it,  and 
hence  the  original  cause  of  the  ellipticity  of 
the  planetary  orbits,  which  he  supposes  to  be 
attracted  in  the.  direction  of  the  axis  of  the 
common  sphere. 

Theories  of  Gravitation. 

53.  "We  cannot  fail  here  to  bestow  a  passing 
notice  upon  some  recent  attempts,  as  indeed 
upon  suspicions  which  have  always  more  or 
less  existed,  to  account  for  the  motion  of  the 
I)lanets  by  some  better  theory  than  mere  gravi- 
ty, or  such  separate  and  independent  forces 
as  the  universe  is  supposed  to  be  endowed 
with,  by  the  Newtonian  hypothesis.  A  woi'k, 
for  instance,  entitled  "  Outlines  of  a  System 
of  Mechanical  Philosophy,  being  a  research 
into  the  Laws  of  Force,  by  Samuel  Elliott 
Coues."  In  this  work,  the  author  has  taken 
strong  grounds  against  the  Newtonian  theory 
of  gravitation,  conceiving  of  a  more  spiritual 
theory,  and  recognizing  the  Divine  Author  of 
creation  altogether  more  present  and  imma- 
nent than  mere  gravitation,  or  simple  attrac- 
tion of  one  body  by  another,  can  possibly  ena- 
ble us  to  do.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the 
author  here  alluded  to  does  not  deny  i\ie  fact 
of  gravitation,  or  rather,  similar  consequences, 
but  not  precisely  nor  all,  which  gravitation 
would  produce,  but  simply  asserts,  and  by  num- 
erous facts  shows,  that  such  power  is  not  in- 
nate in  the  bodies  themselves,  and  therefore, 
that  the  theory  of  mere  attraction  of  one 
body  by  another  is  false,  and  also  insufficient 
to  account  for  the  movements  of  the  Universe. 
For  this  attempt  at  opposing  great  names, 
for  calling  Newton  to  account,  the  amiable 
author  has  encountered  the  usual  sneers  of 
certain  pert  tyros  in  science,  who  follow  hard 
upon  authority,  and  his  book  remains  quite 
harmless,  though  not  without  the  recognition 
of  its  truths,  by  a  few  discriminating  and  ap- 
preciating minds.  Thus  we  go,  and  thus  the 
spiritual  and  the  divine  are  ever  sure  to  get 
the  ascendency,  and  as  sure  to  be  scouted  at 
first  by  the  sensual  and  material.  It  is  suf- 
ficient to  say  that  our  modern  author  has 
been  impressed  with  a  great  truth  here,  and 
has  not  failed  triumphantly  to  show  it.  But 
we  are  only  led  into  this  notice,  to  set  forth 
all  the  more  prominently  the  grand  and  sim- 
ple theory  of  Svvedenborg.  The  existence  of 
a  vortex,  or  of  planetary  spheres,  analogous 
to  the  sphere  of  the  magnet,  and  of  every 
particle  of  matter,  so  that  each  planet  and 
sun  is  but  the  nucleus,  as  it  were,  or  centre  of 
an  immense  body  of  finer  and  invisible  matter, 
graduated  by  different  degrees  of  attenuation, 
and  these  all  interpenetrating  one  another, 
constituting  one  mighty  whole,  without  a 
vacuum,  and  united  with  and  interpenetrated 
by  the  spiritual  universe,  the  spiritual  centre 
of  which  is  the  Deity  Himself,  who  also  in- 
terpenetrates  the   whole,  —  this  is   the   true 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


17 


theory,  and  here  j!:ravitation  is  simplified,  and 
the  spiritual  and  material  meet  and  touch 
each  other.  Of  course  tiiere  must  be  gravity 
where  all  things  touch  and  move  together. 
And  there  cannot  be  a  gravity  which  does 
not,  by  fine  intermediates,  involve  touch ! 
Swedenborg  regards  both  gravity  and  mag- 
netism as  having  the  same  original,  and  it  has 
since  been  discovered  tliat  the  magnetic  at- 
tractions and  repulsions  observe  the  same  law 
a«  gravitation,  according  to  which  the  intensi- 
ty of  the  force  is  inversely  as  the  square  of 
the  distance.  The  real  cause  and  nature  of 
gravitation,  so  far  as  we  can  conceive  of  it,  is 
undoubtedly  to  be  found  in  the  similarity  of 
the  primary  forms  of  the  particles  of  matter, 
and  more  deepljs  in  the  similarity  of  essences 
which  produce  those  forms,  thus  in  simple  af- 
finity which  like  has  for  like.  But  it  is  to  be 
found  most  deeply,  in  the  spiritual,  thence  in 
the  invisible  material,  and  thence  in  the  visi- 
ble material.  Hence  the  profound  remark  of 
Swedenborg,  that  nothing  can  be  truly  known 
of  the  visible  world  without  a  knowledge  of 
the  invisible,  for  the  visible  world  is  a  world 
only  of  effects,  while  the  invisible  or  spiritual 
is  the  world  of  causes.  Repulsion  is  not  a 
positive  principle,  like  attraction,  or  gravita- 
tion, and  is  only  caused  by  dissimilarity  of 
essences.  There  is  some  similarity  and  some 
dissimilarity,  in  all  material  bodies  ;  hence, 
either  perceptible  or  imperceptible,  both  attrac- 
tion and  repulsion.  He  who  will  pursue  this 
course  of  thought,  making  due  allowance  for 
relative  distances,  or  the  nearness  or  re- 
moteness of  other  bodies,  will  arrive,  as  far  as 
possible,  in  the  present  state  of  our  faculties, 
at  the  true  theory  of  gravitation,  or  of  attrac- 
tion and  repulsion.  In  other  words,  he  will 
find  a  kind  of  chemical  affinity  on  a  large 
scale !  * 

54.  But  our  remarks  would  not  be  com- 
plete here,  without  a  further  reference  to 
Swedenborg's  theological  system,  although  we 
may  subject  ourselves  to  the  charge  of  mix- 
ing up  theological  ideas  with  possibly  pliysical 
errors.  But  the  reader  must  judge,  while  wc 
only  wish  to  say  that  "  Swedenborg  maintains, 
that  the  constitution  of  the  insible  heavens 
■never  can  be  understood  without  Jirst  under- 
standing the  constitution  of  the  invisible.  That 
the  invisible  are  far  more  immense  than  the 
visible,  of  which  the  Lord  is  the  one  only  and 
central  sun  ;  that  they  consist  of  distinct  ordi- 
nations of  angelic  hosts  or  societies  into  the 
human  form,  according  to  the  apostolic  idea  of 
the  constitution  of  a  church  ;  that  every  dis- 
tinct society  has  its  distinct  place  in  the  uni- 
versal body ;  that  united  into  one  it  exhibits 
the  splendor  of  a  spiritual  star,  to  which  there 

*  "  Beyond  certain  limits  of  distance,  ilie  iiiterblending  actions  of 
any  two  bodies,  however  dissimilar  in  constitution,  is  always  har- 
monious—  and  liciice  attractive;  within  those  limits  of  distance, 
tbo  action  is  crowding  and  conflicting',  and  lunce  repellent."  — 
Fishbuagh'a   "  Jfacroccijir.  and  J/icroco.-m."     ''J''  ii.  p.  124. 


is  a  corresponding  natural  sun  ;  that  natural 
suns  are  aggregated  or  grouped  according  to 
their  correspondences  to  tlie  spiritual ;  thus 
that  the  natural  is  the  outbirth  of  the  spiritual, 
the  visible  of  the  invisible,  the  temporal  of 
the  eternal,  the  finite  of  the  infinite  ;  and  that 
the  concentrations  and  disjjersions  of  universes 
is  but  the  outward  manifestation  of  the  changes 
going  on  in  the  inward  and  spiritual  heavens, 
which  refer  to  ever  new  varieties  of  state  in 
consequence  of  ever  new  progressions  from 
glory  to  glory."  —  Introduction  to  Principia, 
p.  7'J. 

The  Planetary  System. 

55.  "  We  now  proceed  (says  the  same  writer)  to  a. 
more  direct  comparison  of  Swedenborg's  cosmo- 
gonical  theory  witFi  that  of  La  Place. 

"  After  the  suggestions  of  Newton  upon  this  sub- 
ject, with  the  existence  of  which  I  know  not 
whether  La  Place  was  acquainted,  it  was  asserted 
by  the  latter  that  Biilfon  was  the  first  writer  whom 
he  knew,  who,  since  tne  discovery  of  the  true 
system  of  the  world,  had  attempted  to  investigate 
the  origin  of  the  planets  and  their  satellites.  Now 
Swedenborg  published  his  Principia  in  the  year 
1734  ;  that  is  to  say,  ten  years  before  BufFon  pub- 
lished his  theory,  and  Buffbn  himself  had  read 
Swedenborg's  Principia,  as  may  be  concluded 
from  the  circumstance  that  a  copy  of  Swedenborg's 
Principia  was  not  very  long  since  sold  by  an  emi- 
nent bookseller  *  in  London,  containing  Buffon's 
own  autograph ;  therefore  if  La  Place  himself 
was  not  acquainted  with  Swedenborg's  treatise,  it 
is  reasonable  to  presume  that  Butfon  was.  Ten 
years,  then,  before  Buffbn  published  his  theory, 
and  about  thirty  years  before  La  Place  offered 
his  own  to  the  public,  Swedenborg  had  pro- 
pounded his  theory  in  the  Pnncipia,  in  the 
year  1734  ;  and  again  in  his  treatise  on  the  Wor- 
ship and  Love  of  God,  in  the  year  1745,  or  about 
twenty  years  before  La  Place's  theory.  In  these 
two  works  it  had  been  observed  by  Swedenborg, 
that  the  sun  is  the  centre  of  a  vortex ;  that  it 
rotates  upon  its  axis ;  that  the  solar  matter  con- 
centrated itself  into  a  belt,  zone,  or  ring  at  the 
equator,  or  rather  ecliptic  ;  that  by  attenuation  of 
the  ring  it  became  disrupted;  that  upon  the  dis- 
ruption, part  of  the  matter  collected  into  globes, 
and  part  subsided  into  the  sun  forming  solar  spots  ; 
that  the  globes  of  solar  matter  were  projected  into 
space  ;  that  consequently  they  described  a  spiral 
orbit ;  that  in  proportion  as  the  igneous  matter 
thus  projected  receded  from  the  sun,  it  gradually 
experienced  refrigeration  and  consequent  conden- 
sation ;  that  hence  followed  the  formation  of  tne 
elements  of  ether,  air,  aqueous  vapor,  &c.,  uuiil 
the  planets  finally  reached  their  present  orbit : 
that  during  this  period  the  earth  experienced  u 
succession  of  geological  chanoes  which  originated 
all  the  varieties  in  the  mineral  kingdom,  and  laid  a^ 
it  were  the  basis  of  the  vegetable  and  afterward* 
of  the  animal  kingdoms.  This  is  the  general  view 
of  Swedenborg's  cosmogonical  theory,  with  whicn 
Buffbn  was  acquainted,  but  of  which  La  Place,  ac- 
cording to  his  own  account,  was  ignorant. 

"  Now  the  points  of  difference  and  agreemcnl 
between  the  theory  of  La  Place  and  that  of  Swe- 
denborg are  the  following.    Swedenborg  begins  at 


*  The  lato  Mr.  Bohn,  of  Honrietta  Street,  Covent  Garden. 


u 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


the  ".entre,  La  Place  at  the  circumference.  Swe- 
dei.Dorg  traces  the  process  of  creation  from  the 
centre  to  the  circumference,  La  Place  traces  it 
from  the  circumference  to  the  centre.  According 
to  Swedenborg,  the  centre  created  the  circum- 
ference ;  according  to  La  Place,  the  circumference 
created  the  centre.  On  the  other  hand,  both  agree 
that  the  planets  were  formed  by  a  condensation  of 
zones,  and  hence  that  planetary  matter  was  origi- 
nally solar.  The  latest  experiments  are  unfavor- 
able to  the  order  observed  by  La  Place,  and 
favorable  to  the  ordi^r  observed  by  Swedenborg."  — 
Introduction  to  Principia,  vol.  ii.  pp.  79-81. 

56.  What  is  most  remarkable  is,  that  Swe- 
denborg alleges  in  his  "  Worship  and  Love  of 
God,"  that  there  were  seven  planets  created 
from  the  sun  at  the  same  time.  And  he  has, 
in  his  Principia,  sevei'al  drawings  illustrative 
of  the  subject,  in  all  of  which,  seven  planets 
are  laid  down.  And  this  was  more  than  forty 
years  before  the  discovery  of  the  seventh 
planet  by  Dr.  Herschel. 

57.  We  must  also  observe  here,  that,  con- 
trary to  the  testimony  of  the  scientifie  world, 
Swedenborg  was  the  first  to  designate  the  pre- 

■  cise  spot  —  the  actual  locality  and  situation  of 
our  solar  system  amongst  the  stars  of  the  uni- 
verse. So  truly  is  this  the  real  state  of  the  case, 
that,  without  the  slightest  exaggeration,  he 
may  be  represented  as  affirming,  "  I  have 
formed  a  comparison  of  the  magneti<i  sphere 
with  the  sidereal  heavens,  chap.  i.  Part  3,  and 
have  gauged  geometrically  the  stratum  of  the 
milky  path ;  I  have  examined  its  parts  and 
discovered  its  construction,  and  have  found, 
by  a  geometrical  calculus,  the  exact  spot  in 
that  galaxy  where  the  sun's  system  is  placed." 
As  if,  placing  his  finger  on  that  spot,  he  had 
exclaimed,  "  It  is  there  !  At  the  point  where 
the  main  trunk  of  the  milky  stream  has  a 
considerable  incurvation  or  divergence  into 
branches,  there  the  sun's  system  is  placed. 
Seek,  and  you  will  find  it." 

58.  Five  years  subsequently,  Herschel  is 
born  (1738).  In  the  year  1789,  he  directs 
bis  monster  telescope  to  the  sides  and,  surfaces 
of  the  galaxy,  and  without  knowing  of  Swe- 
denborg's  announcement  of  the  sun's  position 
therein,  conjectures  the  identical  spot,  seeks 
for  evidence  of  its  truth  by  a  species  of  star 
gauging,  and  a  few  etforts  reward  his  labors 
with  the  most  abundant  confirmation  of  the 
reality  of  his  conjecture.  Certainly,  never 
did  a  luore  bold  assertion  receive  a  more  strik- 
ing confirmation ! 

oSJ.  To  whom  should  the  honorable  wreath 
be  awarded  —  to  the  man  who,  by  a  series  of 
careful  observations  on  the  elliptical  and  ec- 
centric form  of  the  planetary  orbits,  and  by  a 
careful  deduction,  arrived  at  by  geometrical 
reasoning,  from  the  facts  thereby  established, 
indicated  the  exact  situation  in  the  heavens 
where  our  solar  system  is  placed ;  consequent- 
ly, before  human  eye  had  looked  upon  it,  or 
mind  ccujectured  it,  and  confidently  predicted 
the  exa»'t  location  amongst  the  stars,  where, 


fifty  years  subsequently,  the  eye  of  Herschel 
sought  and  found  it  ?  Or,  shall  it  be  awarded 
to  the  man  who  first  made  the  literal  but  le&» 
meritorious  discovery  ? 

60.  How  like  the  recent  case  of  Leverrier, 
and  his  discovery  of  the  planet  Neptune ! 
Was  Leverrier,  who  saw  it  mentally,  or  Dr. 
Galle,  who  saw  it  telescopically,  the  real  dis- 
coverer of  the  boundary  planet  ?  The  whole 
civilized  world  have,  without  the  slightest  de- 
mur, decided  in  favor  of  the  person  who  re- 
vealed its  situation  (for  the  planet's  existence 
was  long  suspected),  who  saw  it  by  intellectual 
vision,  before  bodily  eyes  could  even  suspect 
where  to  look  for  it.  There  is  the  same  es- 
sential difference  between  Leverrier's  discov- 
ery of  Neptune  and  Herschel's  discovery  of 
Uranus,  as  there  is  between  Swedenborg's  dis- 
covery of  the  situation  of  our  sun  among 
the  stars  of  the  milky  way,  and  Herschel's 
discovery  of  the  same.  In  both  Swedenborg's 
and  Leverrier's  case,  the  discovery  is  intel- 
lectual, and  shows  forth  the  triumphs  and  su- 
periority of  reason  over  mere  sensation. — 
2iew  Church  Repository,  vol.  iii.  p.  199. 

61.  Again,  concerning  the  Stability  of  the 
Solar  System,  Swedenborg's  theory  declares, 
that,  as  the  solar  system  is  carried  along  the 
milky  path,  and  afterwards  compelled  to  di- 
verge therefrom,  the  planetary  orbits  will 
change  their  form  and  eccentricity  to  a  certain 
amount,  and  then  return  to  their  original  con- 
dition, when  they  will  again  change,  and  again 
return,  and  so  on  to  eternity.  —  Principia,  vol. 
ii.  pp.  233-38. 

62.  The  beautiful  demonstration  by  La 
Grange,  of  the  stability  of  the  solar  system,  is 
a  direct  proof  of  Swedenborg's  theorem.  The 
changes  in  the  character  of  the  planetary  or- 
bits, were  already  known  and  seen  to  be  at 
work  undermining  the  present  form  of  the 
system,  and  fears  were  entertained  that  they 
might  become  exorbitantly  great,  so  as  to  sub- 
vert those  relations  which  render  it  habitable 
to  man.  This  was  a  difficulty  which  appeared 
insurmountable  to  the  astronomers  of  Swe- 
denborg's day,  and  for  some  time  afterwards. 
Theologians  every  where  accepted  it  as  an  ob- 
vious demonstration  of  their  doctrine  of  the 
final  destruction  of  all  things.  Newton  and 
Leibnitz  had  both  bowed  with  submission  to 
the  order  of  things,  which  was  winding  up 
the  operations  of  the  great  whole,  and  bring- 
ing on  an  inevitable  doom.  Geometers,  phi- 
losophers, and  theologians,  accepted  the  fact  as 
evidence  of  the  common  declaration,  "  that  the 
end  of  all  things,"  if  not  at  hand,  was  at  least 
certain.  Every  whei'e  the  profoundest  math- 
ematical resources  were  employed  to  their  ut- 
most limits,  but  the  equation  on  one  side  al- 
ways equalled  nothing,  and  the  quantities  only 
seemed  to  converge  without  the  slightest  pos- 
sibiHty  of  their  opening  out,  and  again  re- 
turning to  a  new  development  of  being. 
Only  one   hright  rpfr"fh'ivfi  spot  existed   like 


LIFE   AX])    WKITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


]9 


an  oasis,  where  wo;ii"y  man,  had  he  known  it, 
might  have  retVeslied  liimself;  and  that  was 
the  Princl'pia  ot"  Swedenborfr.  There  uloue, 
amongst  all  the  works  of  this  period,  is  shown 
the  now  accepted  doctrine  of  a  cyclar  returii. 
At  length,  La  Grange  appears  with  a  demon- 
stration, grounded  on  the  discovery  of  a  cer- 
tain relation  which  prevails  in  the  system,  be- 
tween the  masses,  orbital  axes,  and  eccentrici- 
ties ;  by  which  the  doctrine  is  completely  es- 
tablished, that  though  the  solar  system  is 
liable  to  certain  mutations  in  the  form  and  ec- 
centricity of  its  orbits,  of  very  long  periods, 
yet  its  orbits  return  again  exactly  to  what 
they  originally  were,  oscillating  between  very- 
narrow  limits.  The  same  matter  has  been 
recently  investigated  by  Leverrier  with  the 
same  successful  results.  So  that  the  doctrine 
of  a  cyclar  return  in  the  form  of  the  solar 
system,  first  propounded  by  Swedenborg,  is 
now  received  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  con- 
ceptions of  man,  under  the  name  of  La 
Grange's  Theory  of  the  Stability  of  the  Solar 
System. 

63.  Swedenborg,  also,  not  only  explains  the 
doctrine  of  a  cyclar  return,  but  also  most  sat- 
isfactorily exhibits  the  reasons  why  it  is  so. 
The  intelligent  reader  would  well  be  reward- 
ed by  a  perusal  of  his  grand  theory.  La 
Grrange  is  the  acknowledged  first  suggester 
of  the  cyclar  theory,  and  Bessel  the  first  sug- 
gester of  the  theory  of  its  cause.  Yet  the 
whole  doctrine  is  repeatedly  given,  by  Swe- 
denborg, in  the  compass  of  half  a  dozen  sen- 
tences ;  yea,  a  score  of  times  in  the  course  of 
the  chapter  on  ''  The  Heavens,"  vol.  ii.  This 
doctrine  was  published  forty-four  years  before 
La  Grange  put  his  forth,  seventy-one  years 
before  Mayer,  and  ninety-one  years  before 
Bessel. 

64.  Again,  concerning  the  Translatory  Mo- 
tion of  the  Stars  along  the  Milky  Way.  This 
motion  of  the  whole  starry  heavens  had  not 
been  even  conjectured  when  the  theory  of 
Swedenborg,  affirming  this  fact,  was  given  to 
the  world;  but  that,  as  we  have  shown,  in- 
strumental measurements  have  now  qualified 
it  with  an  empirical  certainty.  As  stated 
above  by  Humboldt,  ''  every  portion  of  the 
vault  of  heaven,"  comprising  "  the  countless 
host  of  fixed  stars,"  are  "  moving  in  thronged 
groups,"  so  that  the  fact  of  universal  motion  in 
space,  of  the  whole  stary  heavens,  is  an  es- 
tablished truth,  of  which  conjecture  forms  no 
part,  and  which,  though  considerably  less  ob- 
vious, is  nevertheless  not  less  certain  than  the 
motion  of  those  wandering  stars  called  planets. 
But  in  what  direction  do  the  stars  move  in 
space  —  do  they  move  along  the  milky  way? 
Echo  answers  —  They  do.  The  theory  of 
Swedenborg,  and  the  theory  of  observation, 
both  echo  —  They  do. 

65.  Here  is  the  proof.  Recently  this  theory 
of  sidereal  observation  has  had  its  exposition 
in   ;'.n    iiUrodnctcv   Ipetnre  delivered    at    the 


opening  of  the  Corfu  University  Session, 
1830,  by  O.  F.  Mossotti,  Professor  of  pure 
and  applied  Mathematics  in  the  L'niversity  of 
the  Ionian  L«lands.  The  following  striking  con- 
trast between  the  theory  of  Swedenborg,  when 
the  scientific  world,  without  exception,  had 
not  even  conjectured  the  general  fluxion  of 
the  starry  heavens,  and  the  theory  of  Mossot- 
ti, as  expressive  of  that  fact  when  completely 
and  satisfactorily  established,  solicits  the  read- 
er's examination  :  — 


Swedenborg  in  M'.VA,  before  even 
conjectured. 

"  The  commnn  axis  of  the 
sphere  or  sidereal  heaven  seems 
to  he  the  galaxy  where  we  per- 
ceive tlie  largest  conyeries  of 
stars  .  .  .  the  solar  or  stel- 
lar systems  afterwards  proceed 
from  the  axis,  and  inflect  them- 
selves in  different  directions  ; 
hilt  that  nevertheless  all  liave 
reference  to  that  axis  ...  . 
the  largest  congeries  is  in  the 
milky  way  ....  here  lies 
the  chain  and  magnetic  course 
of  the  whole  of  our  sidereal 
heaven."  —  Fol.  II.,  p.  237. 


Professor  Mossotti  in  1839,  ajl*r 
empirically  determined, 

"  Tlie  countless  stars  of  the 
milky  way  may  therefore  con- 
stitute an  unchangeable  system, 
circulating  in  an  annular  space 
to  which  they  are  always  lim- 
ited  The  solar  sys- 
tem revolves,  therefore,  in  the 
milky  way  from  west  to  cast,  ex- 
actly in  the  direction  in  which 
all  the  bodies  vf  this  system  re- 
volve. 

"  To  give,  in  a  few  words,  a 
clear  image  of  what  has  been 
said,  consider  a  cluster  of  count- 
less stars  in  the  immensity  of 
space,  ail  placed  along  a  ring 
of  enormous  dimensions,  and 
all  moving  in  it  in  periods  which 
only  myriads  of  centuries  cait 
measure :  tbilowing  them  in 
their  long  and  slow  courses, 
imagine  tjiem  to  approach  pro- 
miscuously but  alternately  the 
outer  and  inner  edge  of  the 
ring,  and  you  will  have  an  idea 
of  the  sidereal  system  in  whicb 
we  are  placed."  —  Phil.  Mag. 
vol.  xxii.,  No.  143,  Feb.,  1843  ' 
pp.  88-9. 

GO.  This  contrast  presents  the  two  extremities 
of  an  age.  At  its  commencement  all  is  nega- 
tion. It  exhibits  the  Swedish  philosopher  in 
bold  and  striking  relief.  Behold  him !  he 
stands  alone  in  an  age  of  darkness.  In  the 
background  the  past  is  black  as  night.  It 
brings  him  out  like  the  sudden  apparition  of 
a  new  star  bursting  with  glory,  and  whose 
brillianc)'  outshines  the  whole  heavens,  as  if  in 
advance  thereof.  It  enables  us  to  perceive, 
that  the  genius  of  Swedenborg  had  traversed  ■ 
an  unknown  path,  and  explored  an  unknowr 
region,  —  had  watched  intellectually  the  stars 
in  their  magnetic  courses,  and  followed  them 
in  their  revolutions,  and  had  grasped,  with 
almost  superhuman  intelligence,  the  whole 
sum  of  this  vast  starry  universe,  to  make  it 
subservient  to  his  thoughts,  long  before  other 
men  even  suspected  the  existence  of  such 
translatory  phenomena.  With  the  striking 
theoretical  discoveries  present  before  the  mind, 
given  in  this  and  the  preceding  article,  who 
can  doubt  the  transcendency  of  his  genius,  or 
object  to  his  claims  for  the  highest  order  oi 
anticipative  originality  ? 

67.  Swedenborg  also  goes  into  other  con- 
siderations, concerning  the  immensity  of  crea- 
tion, beyond  or  outside  the  boundaries  of  the 
visible  firmament  of  the  starry  heaven,  and 
the  groups  or  systems  of  stars,  which  have  no 
immediate  connection  with  each  other,  and  yet 
which  are  connected  in  one  mighty  system  of 
systems.     Thus,   again,  was   he  first   in   thL 


zO 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   EJVIANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


grand  conception,  as  appears  from  a  j-efcrence 
to  the  facts  in  the  case. 

"  The  in<Tonions  Mr.  Micliell,  more  than  fifty 
years  ago,  stnrleJ  the  idea  of  the  st;irs  boinnf  formed 
into  groups  or  systems,  wliich  are  entirely  detached 
from  one  another,  and  have  no  immediate  connec- 
tion."—  Diclc's  Sidereal  Heavens,  p.  210. 

"  The  next  object  alhided  to  was  the  systematic 
arrangement  of  the  stars.  It  was  an  English- 
man, named  Michell,  who  first  observed  this  sys- 
tematic arrangement."  —  Prof.  JViehol\s  Lecture 
on  Astron.,  see  Manchester  Guardian,  May  15th, 
1847. 

"  Mr.  Herschel  improved  on  Michell^s  idea  of  the 
fixed  stars  being  collected  into  groups."  —  Encyclo- 
pcRdia  Britannica,  vol.  2,  part  ii.  p.  472,  Astronomy. 

"  Another  doctrine  published  at  Venice  in  the 
year  llChi,  by  M.  Boscovich,  said  to  have  been  first 
thought  of  by  Mr.  Michell,"  &c.  —  Young's' Es- 
say on  the  Power  and  Mechanism  of  JVatnre,  p.  64. 

68.  It  would  appear  from  the  above  quota- 
tions, that  Michell  was  the  iirst,  in  the  history  of 
hypot'nesis,  to  propose  a  true  conception  of 
the  cosraical  structure  of  the  starry  heavens. 
He  suggested,  that  gravitation  might  cause  the 
stars  to  cluster  together  into  distinct  systems  : 
that  as  planets  are  parts  of  solar  systems,  so 
are  solar  systems  parts  of  what  may  be  called 
star  systems.  Michell's  proposition,  given  in 
1707  (Phil.  Trans.  1767  and  1783),  contains, 
according  to  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the 
scientific  world,  as  shown  above,  the  first  sug- 
gestion on  record  of  the  grouping  of  stars  into 
separate  and  distinct  systems. 

69.  But  the  true  history  of  the  matter  stands 
thus  : —  Kant,  the  celebrated  German  transcen- 
dentalist,  was  the  first  who  published  a  true 
conception  of  the  distribution  of  matter  in 
space.  The  work  was  called,  On  the  Theory 
and  Structure  of  the  Heavens,  and  published 
at  Konigsberg  in  1755.  About  this  time 
Michell  was  revolving  the  matter  in  his  mind, 
but  had  not  published  any  thing  thereon. 
Lambert,  in  1757,  followed  Kant  in  his  Let- 
ters on  Cosmogony.  Two  years  subsequently 
(1759),  Boscovich  published  his  celebrated 
theory  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Universe. 
All  advocating  similar  views  of  the  arrange- 
ment and  distribution  of  matter  in  space.  In 
1767  Michell  presented  his  views,  but,  differ- 
ently from  all  previous  theorists,  gave  certain 
illustrations  which  brought  the  theory  at  once 
before  the  attention  of  observers,  so  as  to  be 
capable  of  demonstration.  On  this  account, 
I  suppose,  he  is  regarded  as  being  the  first 
who  presented  a  true  theory  of  the  starry 
heavens,  the  former  being  entirely  overlooked 
or  unknown.  In  1780,  Herschel  gauges  the 
heavens,  and  literally  beholds  what  had  hith- 
erto been  only  theoretical,  and  to  some,  abso- 
lutely impossible. 

70.  Yet  preceding  all  these,  and  when  Kant 
was  only  ten  years  of  age,  Swedenborg  had 
formally  given  the  same  ideas  and  views  of 
creation,  —  expressly  calling  his  Essay  — 
"The  Theory  oi  the  Sidereal  Heavens"  —  in 


his  immortal  Principia,  published  in  1733, — 
being  twenty-two  years  before  Kant,  twenty- 
four  years  before  Lambert,  twenty-six  years 
before  Boscovich,  thirty-four  years  before 
Michell,  and  forty-seven  years  before  Her- 
schel. This  work,  which  preceded  all  other? 
in  tlie  suggestion  of  true  views  regarding  the 
clustering  of  stars,  and  their  arrangement  and 
distribution  in  space,  was  published  under 
royal  auspices,  and  at  the  expense  of  the  then 
reigning  Duke  of  Brunswick.  Yet,  even  this 
idea  was  as  a  drop  is  to  the  expansive  ocean, 
compared  with  the  lofty  grandeur  and  mighty 
ubiquity  of  the  ideas  and  conceptions  which 
opened  to  his  view,  when  the  starry  clusters 
of  the  inner  universe  were  subsequently  dis- 
coverable to  the  inner  vision  of  his  spirit. 
The  following  contains  a  brief  summary  of 
his  statement  of  the  fact,  that  stars  cluster  or 
associate  themselves  into  societies  or  systems. 
As  to  the  formative  process,  our  former  arti- 
cle will  suggest  an  exposition  :  — 

"  That  one  vortex,  with  its  active  centre,  consti- 
tutes one  heaven  of  itself,  or  one  mundane  system ; 
that  several  vortices,  with  their  centres,  form  to- 
gether a  certain  sphere  ;  that  a  sphere,  consisting 
of  many  vortices  of  the  same  kind,  has  its  own 
proper  figure." — Principia,  vol.  i.,  p.  233. 

"  That  the  whole  visible  sidereal  heaven  is  one 
large  sphere,  and  that  its  suns  or  stars,  together 
with  their  vortices,  are  parts  of  a  sphere  connect- 
ed one  witli  the  other,  in  the  manner  we  have 
mentioned."  —  Page  234. 

"  That  there  may  be  innumerable  spheres  or 
sidereal  heavens  in  the  finite  universe  ;  that  the 
whole  visible  sidereal  heaven  is  perhaps  but  a 
point  in  respect  to  the  universe.  The  sidereal 
heaven,  stupendous  as  it  is,  forms  perhaps  but  a 
single  sphere,  of  which  one  solar  vortex  consti- 
tutes only  a  part.  Possibly  there  may  be  innu- 
merable other  spheres,  and  innumerable  other  heav- 
ens similar  to  those  we  behold  ;  so  many  indeed 
and  so  mighty,  that  our  own  may  be  respectively 
only  a  point."  —  Page  238. 

71.  By  the  joint  labors  of  the  two  Hersehels 
and  the  Earl  of  Rosse,  the  heavens  have  been 
gauged  above,  below,  and  on  all  sides,  with 
their  gigantic  telescopes  :  and  the  result  has 
been,  these  theoretical  suggestions,  so  lofty 
and  sublimely  elevating,  have  now  to  be  re- 
garded as  matters  of  fact.  This  happy  obser- 
vation, by  the  elder  Herschel,  of  a  conception 
first  published  by  Swedenborg,  about  fifty 
yeai-s  previously,  enriched  astronomy  with  a 
gem  far  exceeding  in  value  any  thing  preced- 
ing it.  Hitherto,  creation  was  considered  a 
globular  universe,  bounded  by  the  visible 
heavens.  Beyond  this  there  was  no  creation, 
but  the  spiritual  heavens  —  the  theological 
universe.  Within  this  the  material  universe 
was  enclosed,  in  the  centre  of  which  our  solar 
system  was  placed ;  whilst  its  interior  surface 
was  our  visible  heaven,  over  whose  ethereal 
vault  were  strewed,  in  unnumbered  myriads, 
the  glimmering  lights  of  other  worlds. 

72.  Swedenborg  was  the  first  intellectually 
to  break  through  this  enclosure  of  the  heavens, 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


2] 


and  with  powerful  arm  to  bui-st  usiinder  its 
confines,  to  draw  aside  tiie  dark  curtain  of 
ages,  to  overtiirow  the  barriers  raised  by  an- 
cient prejudices,  and  advance  to  some  distance, 
though  with  cautious  steps,  over  the  uncertain 
ground  beyond.  With  unwearied  labor  he 
had  essayed  every  probable  i)ath,  and  hav- 
ing found  the  right  one,  proceeded  along  it 
to  the  very  gate  of  trutii.  Wonderful,  in- 
deed, were  the  results.  At  once,  by  a  single 
effort  of  iiis  genius,  worlds- innumerable,  in 
congregated  spheres,  were  beheld  in  harmoni- 
ous operation,  without  end  or  limit  —  tiie 
boundaries  of  the  universe,  so  to  speak,  be- 
came to  man  at  once  illimitable ;  and  the 
scattering  goodness  of  the  Divine  Hand, 
strewing  mercies  and  blessings  amongst  un- 
numbered worlds,  hitherto  unseen,  unknown, 
and  unconjectured,  was  a  scene  worthy  of  the 
Almighty  —  a  prospective  into  a  held  so  en- 
tirely new  and  unprecedented,  that  admiring 
millions  are  struck  with  awe  at  the  Mighty 
Power  and  Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom  of  that 
Being  who  moves,  provides  for,  and  supports 
the  whole.  It  was  a  Revelation  of  the  attri- 
butes of  his  Being  and  the  Resoui'ces  of  his 
Power,  infinitely  beyond  any  thing  which  the 
wildest  imagination  of  the  Atheist  could  ever 
have  conceived,  in  demand  for  evidence  of  his 
existence.  Literally,  the  heavens  were  opened 
—  that  most  glorious  and  magnificent  region 
in  the  material  universe,  the  Heaven  of  Heav- 
ens, formed,  as  Swedenborg  expresses  it,  of 
innumerable  heavens,  in  congregated  spheres, 
beyond  or  outside  our  own  —  was  displayed 
first  to  the  intellectual,  and  subsequently  to 
the  ocular  vision,  when  one  universal  blaze  of 
glory  burst  forth  ou  an  astonished  world. 
'•  Behold ! "  says  Swedenborg,  on  drawing 
aside  the  dark  curtain  of  ages,  which  had  in- 
tercepted cVeation  from  the  view  of  mortals, 
"  behold  these  new  walks  of  the  Almighty  ! 
Lift  up  your  heads  on  high,  and  behold  Ilim 
traversing  the  innumerable  s[)heres  with  the 
same  flowing  richness,  beauty,  and  care,  as  is 
so  conspicuous  ou  this  atom  of  a  world  on 
which  we  dwell." 

73.  This  humble  and  devout  philosopher 
was  the  fii-st  happy  mortal  on  whom  the  high 
duty  devolved  of  developing  these  mighty 
truths  for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  He  was  a 
suitable  instrument  for  so  glorious  a  Revela- 
tion. When  the  immensity  of  God's  work, 
beyond  or  outside  the  visible  starry  heavens, 
bad  thus  been  opened  to  him,  and,  for  the  tirst 
time  in  human  history,  he  had  gazed  mentally 
on  the  peculiar  mechanism  of  our  own  imme- 
diate universe  ;  had  watched  and  measured 
the  play  of  its  mighty  forces  ;  had  proclaimed, 
after  geometrical  measurement,  the  precise 
system  or  cluster  of  stars  to  which  our  sun's 
system  belongs ;  yea,  had  placed  his  finger 
on  the  very  spot  in  that  cluster  Jive  years 
before  Herschel  was  born  ;  —  when  these  had 
beau  accomplished,  nothing  more,  as   to  uni- 


versal principles  and  universal  mechanism, 
could  be  revealed  to  or  made  known  by  him, 
to  be  useful  to  mankind  now.  To  progress 
further,  the  opening  of  the  iiuier  universe  to 
mental  vision  must  needs  follow.  For,  as  to 
universal  principles  and  mechanism,  he  had 
seen  all  that  man  could  now  see  where  man 
doth  dwell.  lie  stood  betwixt  the  darkness 
of  tiie  past  and  the  light  of  the  present,  a 
humble  instrument,  holding  in  his  hands  the 
germs  of  those  extraordinary  discoveries  and 
revelations  which  even  now  astonish  the  world. 
To  enumerate  them  here,  or  even  to  hint  their 
nature,  would  be  to  exceed  our  present  limits. 

74.  One  thing  is  clear  to  all  who  may  have 
read  attentively  these  papers,  and  carefully 
studied  his  voluminous  writings,  —  as  a  child 
writing  down  his  thoughts  and  experience,  so 
has  he  been  with  regard  to  his  opinions,  his 
discoveries,  and  his  almost  universal  experi- 
ence. But  it  is  equally  clear  "  the  world 
knows  him  not."  —  New  Church  Repository,  vol. 
iii.,  pp.  198,  199,202-205,249,250,293-297. 

Magnetic  Spheres. 

75.  We  cannot  take  leave  of  our  extracts 
from  this  work,  without  noticing  another  fea- 
ture of  it,  the  coincidence  of  which,  with  a 
work  that  has  recently  appeared  by  Baron 
Von  Reichenbach,  mai'ks  another  peculiarity 
of  our  author's  genius.  We  refer  to  what 
has  already  been  alluded  to,  viz.,  the  doctrine 
of  spheres  around  every  materitU  object,  par- 
ticularly around  magnets.  Many  have  been 
struck,  recently,  with  the  facts  and  illustra- 
tions contained  in  a  work  entitled  "  Physico- 
Physiological  Researches  on  the  Dynamics  of 
Magnetism,  Electricity,  etc.,  etc.,  by  Baron 
Charles  Von  Reichenbach."  Here  we  are 
presented  with  many  engravings,  showing  the 
actual,  substantial  ^o?rte  which  goes  forth  from 
the  ends  of  magnets,  and  from  all  sides  of 
them,  also  from  the  human  hand,  body,  and 
other  materials.  Reichenbach  discovered  these 
flames,  at  first,  by  what  he  calls  *'  sick-sensi- 
tives," or  cataleptic  patients,  (partially  clair- 
voyant subjects,)  when  shut  up  in  a  dark 
room.  The  flames  sent  forth  from  the  poles 
of  a  large  horseshoe  magnet,  capable  of  sup- 
porting ninety  pounds,  were  described  as  about 
eight  inches  in  length,  mingled  with  irrides- 
cent  colors,  flickering  and  waving,  yielding 
when  blown  upon,  and  when  the  hand  or  other 
solid  body  was  passed  through  them.  Vari- 
ous experiments  with  other  bodies  are  also  here 
detailed,  and  the  force  which  developed  these 
flames  is  called  the  "  odic,"  or  "  odylic,"  force, 

76.  But  it  is  interesting  to  observe,  that, 
in  Swedenborg's  Principia,  we  find  precisely 
similar  drawings,  and  in  great  variety,  illus- 
trating the  same  sphere  around  magnets  and 
around  iron.  Reichenbach's  discoveries  are. 
indeed,  of  a  somewhat  different  nature ;  for  lie 
demonstrated  the  existence  of  these  spheres, 
not  as  spheres  merely,  but  as  magnetic  ^o//t« 


22 


LIFE    AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


and  light,  by  means  of  his  "  sick-sensiti%es  " 
in  the  diirk,  in  a  way  that  we  do  not  lind  in 
any  other  author.  But  Swedenborg  has  the 
same,  or  similar  di-awings,  going  to  iUustrate 
precisely  tlie  same  thing,  all  but  the  flame; 
of  which  any  one  may  be  convinced  by  look- 
ing into  the  first  and  second  volumes  of  the 
Principia.  And  as  the  spheres,  of  course,  in- 
clude the  flames,  though  not  seen,  we  can  but 
regard  this  coincidence  as  decidedly  intei'est- 
ing.  We  should  have  thought,  if  we  had  not 
known  the  contrary,  that  we  were  looking  at 
some  of  Keichenbach's  engravings.  But  the  dif- 
ference appears  to  be,  that  in  Reichenbach's  case, 
he  was  led  to  his  fact  by  the  eyes  of  his  partial- 
ly clairvoyant  subjects,  while  Swedenborg  rea- 
soned his  out,  as  he  did  the  identity  of  elec- 
tricity and  lightning.  And  yet  we  know  not 
but  we  misjudge  the  keenness  of  his  vision, 
for  we  shall  find  that  be  was  no  stranger  even 
to  Jlames,  and  those,  too,  of  a  more  spiritual 
character,  even  before  the  full  opening  of  his 
spiritual  sight,  as  will  appear  when  we  come  to 
notice  his  advances  into  the  spiritual  region. 

77.  We  cannot  here  present  any  of  his 
drawings,  but  we  will  quote  a  few  of  his  re- 
marks, and  then  take  leave  of  the  subject :  — 

■  "  By  reason  of  the  connection  between  the  vor- 
ticles  which  extend  from  one  pole  to  another,  and 
of  tlie  formation  of  the  sphere,  there  exist  poles, 
one  on  each  side  of  the  magnet:  there  exist,  in 
like  manner,  polar  axes  extending  in  the  sphere  to 
a  distance  J'rom  the  magnet ;  and  these  axes  do  not 
receive  their  determination  from  tlie  magnet,  but 
from  the  sphere  and  its  tignre.  Tliat  not  tiie  mag- 
net, but  the  sphere  forms  the  polar  axis  on  each 
side,  is  evident  from  this  circuuioLance ;  thut  the 
polar  plane  passes  tlirough  the  whole  magnet  from 
one  side  to  the  other;  as  in  Fig.  10,  where  the 
whole  side,/,  o,  g,  is  polar,  as  also  the  opposite  side, 
a,  c,  b,  and  the  elements  of  the  effluvia  travel  loithin 
the  mass  rectilinearbj  fromy",  o,  g,  to  a,  c,  b,  accord- 
ing to  the  interior  texture.  Hence  the  polar  axis 
cannot  have  any  fixed  place  in  the  magnet,  but  the 
place  and  situation  of  the  polos  are  owmg  entirely 
to  the  sphere,  wliich  is  compelled  to  encircle  the 
magnet  according  to  the  figure  of  the  latter  ;  thus 
sometimes  in  one  way,  sometimes  in  another.  — 
Principia,  vol.  i.  p.  230. 

"  By  tlie  application  of  two  or  more  magnetic 
spheres,  the  tigure  of  each  is  immediately  changed : 
from  two  or  more  spheres  arises  one  that  is  larger ; 
and  the  whole  of  the  distance  between  the  spheres 
becomes  an  axis."  —  p.  234.  This  is  a  declared 
fact,  precisely  similar  to  Reichenbach,  who  in- 
stances and  illustrates,  by  engravings,  how  the 
flame  of  one  magnet  will  displace  that  of  another. 
Swedenborg  has  also  a  drawing  to  illustrate  the 
same  displacement  of  one  sphere  or  flame  by  an- 
other. 

"  The  sphere  of  the  efiliivia  around  iron  extends 
itself  to  a  considerable  distance ;  so  that  the  vorti- 
cles  or  gyrations  of  eflluvia  emit  themselves  like 
radii  on  every  side,  and  dispose  the  magnetic  ele- 
ment itself  into  the  same  situation,  whence  the 
magnetic  element  regards  tiie  iron  as  its  pole  or 
centre  from  which  the  vorticles  issue  in  a  long  se- 
ries. Not  only  does  a  tide  of  elljuvia  perpetually 
emanate  from  tlie  iruu,  but  it  ;iL^o  coUiUipaies  and 
surrounds  its  surface  ;  a  circu.nsi  aicc  so  evident, 


and  from  so  many  phenomena  arising  from  the 
conjunction  of  the  magnet  with  magnetic  needles, 
as  to  be  placed  beyond  a  doubt."  —  Vol.  ii.  p.  64. 

78.  In  the  woi'k  which  we  are  now  consid- 
ering, our  author  has  much  to  say  of  the  mag- 
netic needle,  and  the  causes  of  its  variations, 
the  matter  of  which  is  so  abstruse  and  extend- 
ed, that  we  cannot  here  go  into  it. 

79.  On  the  whole,  this  is  so  magnificent  a 
work,  that  one  feels  little  able  to  guide  anoth- 
er through  the  chambers  of  that  vast  edifice. 
It  ii  easy  to  see  and  admire  the  unrivalled 
ingenuity  of  the  conceptions,  the  consistency 
of  the  details  with  the  whole,  and  the  self-sup- 
porting proportions  of  the  theory ;  its  con- 
geniality with  thought,  and  felicity  with  which 
its  principles  apply  themselves  and  other 
things,  and  marshal  around  them  new  details  ; 
the  practicability  of  that  genius,  which  stud- 
ied the  elementary  world,  as  a  fourth  kingdom 
of  nature  ;  above  all,  the  noble  undertone  of 
theology,  which  breathes  throughout,  like  a 
tacit  psalm,  and  gives  life  to  our  notions  of  the 
Divine  ]Majesty  and  Wisdom,  making  atoms  in- 
stinct with  the  same  order  as  solar  systems ; 
concentrating,  to  intensity,  what  we  have 
hitherto  felt  of  admiration  and  wonder,  over 
that  nature,  which  is  greatest  in  the  least 
things,  and  least  in  the  greatest.  As  a  walk 
of  science,  the  embryology  of  worlds  has  had 
few  cultivators ;  and  probably  no  one  has 
broached  such  precise  ideas  upon  it,  as  Swe- 
denborg. The  work,  to  be  rightly  appreci- 
ated, must  not  only  be  read,  but  profoundly 
studied.  The  due  meed  of  praise  will  yet  be 
given  to  it,  and  it  will  at  least  take  its  place, 
in  the  public  estimation,  side  by  side  with 
the  immortal  principles  of  Newton. 

8U.  But  Swedenborg  does  not  stop  here. 
The  essential  reasons  of  chemistry,  some 
branches  in  most  departments  of  physics,  and 
many  arts  tending  to  improve  the  natural  life, 
have  employed  tiie  mind  and  pen  of  our  au- 
thor ;  yet  still  the  watchword  is  on  —  omoardSy 
to  witness  other  displays  of  his  genius  and  in- 
dustry. Did  we  all  toil  like  him,  and  improve 
our  talents  to  the  utmost,  how  would  the  world 
bless  our  tillage  with  a  new,  supernatural  pro- 
ductiveness. Verily,  heaven  would  tell  out 
unknown  riches  into  the  hand  of  humanity. 

81.  The  People  have  a  perfect  right  to 
claim  Swedenborg  as  one  of  their  best  cham- 
pions and  benefactors ;  because,  for  them  he 
labored,  wrote  and  published.     He  says, — 

"  There  are  persons,  who  love  to  hold  their 
knowledge  for  themselves  alone,  and  to  be  the  re- 
puted possessors  and  guardians  of  secrets :  such 
persons  grudge  the  Public  any  thing ;  and  if  any 
discovery  comes  to  light,  by  which  art  and  science 
will  be  benefited,  tliey  regard  it  askance  with 
scowling  looks,  and  probably  denounce  the  discov- 
erer as  a  babbler,  who  lets  out  mystorios.  I  know 
it  is  impossible  for  me  to  gain  the  good  will  of  this 
class ;  for  they  think  themselves  impoverished 
whenever  the  knowledge  they  have,  becomes  the 
knowledge  of  the  Ma>'Y.     For  surely  no  man  has 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL  SWEDENBOKG. 


23 


«i  right  to  hold  his  knowledge  for  himself  alone, 
but  rather  for  others,  and'  for  the  whole  world. 
Why  sliuuld  such  tilings  be  grudged  to  the  Pub- 
lic ?  Whatever  is  worthy  to  be  known,  should  by 
all  means  be  brought  to  the  great  and  general 
Market  of  the  World.  The  rights  of  civilized  man 
convince  us  of  this  ;  the  natural  functions  of  the 
individual,  equally  with  the  laws  of  the  Republic 
of  Letters,  attest  and  enforce  it  Unless  we  all 
contribute  to  make  the  arts  and  sciences  flourish 
more  and  more,  we  can  neither  grow  wiser  nor 
happier,  with  time." 

82.  Notwitstanding  the  signal  learning  and 
sincere  piety  displayed  throughout  the  Prin- 
CiPiA,  the  work  was  prohibited  by  the  Pope, 
in  1739  ;  p'robably  because  the  Church  of 
Rome  professed  to  believe  that  God  made  all 
things  out  of  nothing,  and  could  not  reconcile 
such  a  process  of  creation  as  Swedenborg  pre- 
sents, with  their  literal  interpretations  of  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis.  Did  not  the  Papists 
imprison  Galileo  for  proving  that  our  earth 
turns  on  it5  axis  every  day,  and  goes  round 
the  sun  once  a  year?  Now,  no  definition  is 
more  common,  than  that  truth  is  that  which 
IS  ;  hence,  in  a  corresponding  sense,  untruth, 
:rror,  or  falsehood,  is  that  which  is  not  ;  and, 
of  course,  that  which  is  the  genuine  nonentity, 
is  nothing.  Upon  this  ground,  to  say  that  God 
created  all  things  out  of  nothing,  is  to  attrib- 
ute the  origin  of  all  things  to  error,  and  hence, 
to  evil  or  the  devil  J  Behold  tiie  result  of  de- 
nying the  truth  and  believing  a  lie  ! 

83.  The  second  volume  of  this  great  work 
treats  of  the  various  methods  employed,  in 
different  parts  of  Europe,  for  smelting  iron, 
and  converting  it  into  steel ;  of  iron  ore,  and 
the  examination  of  it ;  and  also  of  several 
experiments  and  mechanical  preparations, 
made  with  iron  and  its  vitriol :  but  neither 
this,  nor  the  third  volume,  is  rendered  into  our 
language ;  though  the  authors  of  the  magnifi- 
cent French  works,  called  Descriptions  of 
Arts  and  Manufactures,  published  at  Paris, 
in  1772,  have  thought  so  highly  of  the  second 
volume,  that  they  have  translated  a  large  por- 
tion of  it  into  French,  and  inserted  it  in  their 
collection. 

84.  The  third  volume  treats  of  the  various 
methods  adopted  for  smelting  copper,  of  sepa- 
rating it  from  silver,  and  converting  it  into 
brass,  and  other  metals  ;  of  lapis  calaminaris 
of  zinc ;  of  copper  ore,  and  the  examination 
(rf  it ;  and  lastly,  of  several  chemical  prep- 
arations and  experiments  made  with  copper. 
In  England,  this  work  is  esteemed  very  high- 
ly ;  and  in  the  translation  of  Cramers,  "  Ele- 
ments of  the  Art  of  Essaying  Metals,"  given 
by  Dr.  Cromwell  Mortimer,  Secretary  of  the 
Koyal  Society,  in  1764,  it  is  mentioned  by  the 
translator  in  the  following  terms :  "  For  the 
sake  of  such  as  understand  Latin,  we  must 
not  pass  by  the  magnificent  and  laborious 
work  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  entitled  '  Prin 


accounts,  not  only  of  the  methods  and  newest 
improvements,  in  metalic  works,  in  all  places 
beyond  the  seas,  but  also  those  in  England 
and  our  colonies  in  America,  with  draughts  of 
the  furnaces,  and  of  the  instruments  to  be 
employed." 

85.  "  In  forming  our  estimate  of  Sweden- 
borg's  calibre  at  this  time,"  as  we  have  ob- 
served elsewhere,  "  we  cannot  omit  taking 
notice  of  his  large  Treatises  on  Iron  and  Cop- 
per, each  occupying  a  folio  volume,  and  busied 
with  the  practical  details  of  mining  in  various 
parts  of  the  world.  That  a  mind  of  such  po- 
tent theoretical  tendency  should  have  had 
strength  to  undergo  the  dry  labor  of  these 
compilations  —  that  one  who  breathed  his  na- 
tive air  in  a  profound  region  of  causes,  should 
come  for  so  long  an  abiding  into  the  lower 
places  of  the  earth,  to  record  facts,  processes, 
and  machineries,  as  a  self-imposed  task  in  ful- 
filment of  his  station  as  Assessor  of  Mines  — 
this  is  one  remarkable  feature  of  a  case  where 
so  much  is  remarkable,  and  shows  how  manly 
was  his  will  in  whatever  sphere  he  exerted 
himself.  The  books  of  such  a  man  are  prop- 
erly AVORKS,  not  to  be  confounded  for  a  mo- 
ment with  the  many-colored  idleness  of  a 
large  class  who  are  denominated  '  thinkers. 

86.  During  the  journey,  which  our  author 
undertook,  to  facilitate  the  publication  of  the 
above-mentioned  works,  he  improved  every 
opportunity  of  making  himself  acquainted 
with  distinguished  mathematicians,  astrono- 
mers, mechanists,  &c.  ;  and  of  examining 
public  libraries  and  museums,  galleries  of  arts 
and  trades,  churches  and  governments,  as  well 
as  mines,  mineralogy,  forests,  gardens,  climate, 
and  every  thing  else  that  was  worthy  of  mem- 
ojy  and  attention. 

87.  In  the  memorial  of  his  travels,  we  find 
traces  of  the  books  he  read,  of  the  notes  he 
made,  and  abundant  evidence  of  a  growing 
taste  for  anatomical  and  physiological  re- 
searches :  whence  it  is  quite  obvious,  that  he 
was  now  refiecting  a  passage,  with  labori- 
ous and  cautious  steps,  from  the  Elementa- 
ry World,  which  he  had  previously  examined, 
towards  the  well-spring  of  Life  and  Motion. 
He  was,  indeed,  looking  through  Nature,  up 
to  Nature's  God.  lie  applied  the  whole 
force  of  his  mind,  to  penetrate  into  the  most 
hidden  things,  to  connect  together  the  scattered 
links  of  the  great  chain  of  universal  Being, 
and  to  trace  up  every  thing,  in  an  order  agreea- 
ble to  its  nature,  to  the  Fii-st  Great  Cause. 

Philosophy  of  the  Infinite,  and  the  Intercourse 
between  Soul  and  Body. 

88.  We  now  contemplate  Swedenborg  in 
another  capacity  :  he  has  dived  so  profoundly 
into  nature,  always  commencing  from  the  sur- 
face of  common  sense,  that  he   luis  entered  a 


ciples   of  Natural  Things;'  in  the  sfcon(£  and   sphere,  where    identical    principles  take  new 
third  v,)lumes  of  which  he  has  given  the  best :  forms,  where  physics  become  philosophy,  and 


24 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG 


where  all  things  lie  outspread  in  one  great 
amity  and  cooperation  within  the  mighty  hori- 
zon of  natural  trutli.  Matter,  nature,  geome- 
try, animation,  thought,  all  suppose  each  other, 
and  subsist  in  the  region  of  principles  and 
ends  in  inseparable  union.  Humanity  cannot 
dispense  with  one  of  them,  but  resumes  them 
all.  Thus,  in  1734,  in  his  forty-sixth  year, 
he  published  his  "  Thilosuphy  of  the  Infinite, 
or  Outlines  of  a  Philosoi)liical  Argument  on 
the  Infinite,  and  the  Final  Cause  of  Creation  ; 
and  on  the  Intercourse  between  the  Soul  and 
the  Body."  This  work,  published  in  1734,  in 
bis  forty-sixth  year,  is  an  attempt  to  prove, 
not  the  existence  of  God  and  the  soul,  but 
equitably  to  take  the  sulirage  of  reason  and 
experience  respecting  it,  and  to  abide,  once  for 
all,  by  its  decision  ;  for  the  author  was  too  real- 
ly industrious,  to  waste  his  efforts  on  impenitent 
scepticism;  indeed,  no  man  parleys  long  with 
that,  who  is  not  more  than  half  a  sceptic  himself, 
or  else  troubled  with  a  sad  irresolution  of  un- 
derstanding. After  duly  certifying  himself 
of  those  great  realities,  he  proceeds  at  once  to 
inquire  how  much  of  their  nature  may  be 
known,  and  what  is  the  means  to  know  it. 

89.  The  course  of  the  work  is  somewhat  as 
follows :  First,  the  existence  of  an  Infinite  is 
extorted  from  reason,  as  a  necessity  of  thought ; 
as  presupposed  in  the  whole  finite,  and  es- 
pecially in  the  inmost  and  primordial  finites  ; 
next,  the  same  is  gained  from  the  contempla- 
tion of  nature,  and  the  final  causes  extant 
throughout  the  human  body ;  and  it  is  al- 
leged, that  there  is  a  tacit  consent  of  mankind 
to  the  existence  of  an  infinite  God  ;  a  consent 
which,  like  reason,  comes  both  from  withiii 
and  from  without,  from  the  nature  of  the  soul, 
and  the  senses,  and  circumstances  of  the  body. 
Having  established,  for  all  sane  reason,  the 
existence  of  the  Infinite,  the  question  occurs, 
What  is  the  connection  between  the  Infinite 
and  the  finite  ?  Is  creation  for  the  Infinite  or 
finite,  as  a  primary  end  .''  To  which  the  au- 
thor replies,  that  the  connection,  or  nexus 
must  itself  be  infinite,  and  the  creation,  for 
the  Infinite.  He  then  asks,  whether,  besides 
reason,  there  be  any  other  source  of  informa- 
tion respecting  this  connection ;  and  here 
Revelation  at  once  occurs,  and  asserts  the 
same  thing,  viz.,  the  existence  of  a  nexus  in 
the  person  of  the  Only-Begotten  Son,  and  the 
infinity  of  the  nexus.  He  concludes  the  First 
Part,  by  showing  that  the  divine  and  infinite 
end  of  creation  is  attained  in  finite  and  fallen 
man,  in  the  person  of  a  Mediator ;  and  thus 
obviates  the  objection,  that  if  the  realization 
of  the  divine  end  depends  on  the  sustained 
goodness  and  wisdom  of  man,  that  end  has 
failed ;  an  objection  which  would  otherwise 
raze  to  the  foundation  the  doctrine  of  ends, 
and,  like  a  central  darkness,  scatter  obscura- 
tion through  all  the  sciences. 

90.  The  Second  Part  is,  On  the  Mechanism 
of  the  Intercourse  between  the  Soul  and  Body. 


The  title  indicates  the  scope  of  its  contents. 
Is  the  soul  finite,  or  infinite  ?  As  certainly  as  it 
is  not  God,  so  certainly  it  is  finite.  Is  it 
amenable  to  laws  ?  Surely ;  for  apart  from 
laws,  the  finite  is  not  finite  —  is  not  at  all. 
But  the  laws  of  the  finite  sphere  are  ultimate- 
ly presented  by  geometry  and  mechanics,  and 
presuppose  extension,  or  some  analogue  of  ex- 
tension :  hence,  the  soul  is,  in  an  eminent 
sense,  a  real  body,  and  amenable  to  finite,  i.  e., 
geometrical  and  mechanical  laws,  which  latter 
come  from  the  Infinite,  and  admit  of  superlative 
perfection,  as  well  as  any  other  laws.  He  then 
deduces  the  immortality  of  the  soul  in  a  manifold  i, 
argument:  from  the  connection  of  man  with 
God  by  acknowledgment  and  love  ;  from  the 
fact,  that  those  who  truly  believe  in  the  exist- 
ence of  God,  ever  believe  in  immortality ; 
also  because  the  soul's  sphere  is  so  inward, 
that  there  is  nothing  in  creation,  which  can 
touch  or  harm  it ;  but  it  can  conform  to  all  the 
impressions  of  its  own  sphere,  without  ceding 
its  essence ;  also,  from  love  of  offspring,  in 
which  the  soul  declares  its  own  immortality, 
by  imparting  a  yearning  for  perpetual  life  to 
the  mortal  body  itself;  whence  parental  love 
increases  in  order  as  it  descends  to  our  chil- 
dren's children  ;  also  from  the  love  of  fame, 
or  natural  immortality ;  and  from  the  desire 
of  good  men  for  the  deathless  condition  of  the 
soul ;  and  again,  from  the  connection  of  the 
Infinite  with  the  soul,  as  of  the  soul  with  the 
body.  And  here  the  author  declares  his  aim, 
to  "  demonstrate  immortality  to  the  very 
senses ; "  for  he  remarks,  "  we  are  better  led 
to  a(*knowledge  the  Infinite  by  effects  and  the^ 
senses,  than  by  the  reasons  of  the  soul : "  and 
again,  "  the  end  of  the  senses  is,  to  lead  us 
sensually  to  an  acknowledgment  of  God." 

91.  But  the  connection  between  the  soul 
and  the  body  is  next  to  be  considered  ;  a  con- 
nection which  is  rendered  intelligible,  the  mo- 
ment we  apprehend  with  clearness,  that  there 
is  no  absolute,  but  only  a  relative  distinction 
betweeen  the  two  terms  —  that  both  are  finite, 
both  real  forms,  —  that  difference  of  form,  in 
finite  things,  is  real  difference  of  essence : 
therefore,  that  the  soul  may,  and  must  be, 
contiguous  to  the  body,  and  conterminous  to 
the  bodily  series ;  that  the  soul  itself  has  its 
passive  side,  or  surface.  Our  author  here 
joins  issue  with  Materialism  on  its  own  ground, 
by  admitting  all  that  it  urges,  on  the  score  of 
organization,  agreeing  to  call  the  means  of  in- 
course  between  the  Soul  and  Body  a  Mechan- 
ism ;  and  having  established  a  certain  consent 
between  the  principles  of  Faith  and  Scepti- 
cism, he  rests  his  case  on  the  fundamental 
tenets  of  the  Principia,  which  are  admitted  in 
evidence  of  what  Mechanism  and  Matter  it- 
self really  consist.  We  can  but  admire  the 
sagacity  here  manifested,  and  its  approach, 
even  at  this  early  stage  of  his  development,  to 
that  true  spiritual  seeing  wfiich  afterwards  de- 
monstrated the  human  soul  a  substantial  form 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


25 


and  organism  in  the  heavens.  On  all  these 
subjects,  this  Part  of  the  Outlines  is  at  once; 
plain  and  {jrofound,  and  brilliantly  sug:;^estive  ; 
especially  on  the  doctrine  of"  physical  limits, 
or  ends,  and  their  corresjjondence  to  ends 
properly  so  called,  its  instructions  are  wortli 
taking ;  also  on  the  correspondence  of  the 
body  with  the  mundane  system,  of  the  element- 
al contiguum  with  the  human  contif/uiim,  for 
the  "corporeal  space  of  man,"  pleiiitudo  of 
limits  or  ends,  is  a  complete  respondent  to  the 
universal  space  of  nature,  and  the  membranes 
are  exactly  and  geometrically  formed  for  the 
reception  of  the  motions  of  the  elements. 

92.  To  pursue  further  this  vex'y  inviting 
book,  is  impossible  ;  sullice  it  to  say,  that  it 
displays  a  noble  liberty  of  thinking,  and  claims 
the  right  to  philosophize  on  the  deepest  sub- 
jects ;  and  itself  plants  positive  conceptions  in 
some  of  the  dimmest  regions  of  inquiry,  dis- 
carding metaphysics  as  a  mere  simulation  of 
method  and  knowledge,  and  leaning  on  the 
sciences,  as  the  needful  step  between  common 
sense  and  Universal  Philosopliy.  Like  all 
the  rest  of  Swedenborg's  works,  it  insists,  or 
implies,  that  the  human  mind  has  no  innate 
ideas,  but  that  man  begins  from  total  igno- 
rance, and  has  every  thing  to  learn  ;  and  that 
all  knowledge  may  properly  be  questioned, 
which  is  not  capable  of  being  carried  on  by 
stages  and  series,  from  less  to  more,  and  in- 
volving greater  multiplicity  of  details,  as  well 
as  increased  unity  of  principles :  thus  those  intui- 
tions, which  are  supposed  to  arrive  at  once  at 
completeness,  may  safely  be  thrown  into  the 
retort  of  the  receiver,  to  be  distilled  into  other 
and  more  tractable  forms ;  for  progress  is  a 
law  at  once  most  general  and  particular.* 

93.  The  publication  of  the  "  Principia  and  the 
Philosophy  of  the  Infinite  and  Finite,"  gave 
Swedenborg  a  European  reputation,  as  a  scien- 
tific man,  and  a  Christian  Philosopher,  and  his 
correspondence  was  eagerly  sought  by  such 
learned  men  as  Wolff,  Flamstead,  Delaliire,  Va- 
rignon,  Lavater,  &;c.,  &c.,  and  in  December  of 
173-4,  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences,  at 
Petersburg,  appointed  him  a  corresponding 
member.  At  this  time,  he  was  a  diligent  stu- 
dent of  Wolff's  philosophy  ;  and  whoever  com- 
pares the  works  of  those  two  men.  will  find  that 
those  ofour  Author's  are  immeasurably  superior. 

Travels,  and  Remarks  on  Political  and 
Religious  Institutions. 

94.  From  1734  to  173G,  at  the  ages  of  forty- 
six  and  forty-eight,  he  remained  at  home  ;  , 
during  which  time  he  conceived  the  project  of 
his  great  Physiological  Works  :  and  in  July 
1736,  he  again  obtained  from  the  King  leave 
of  absence  in  order  to  execute  his  plans,  which 
involved  a  tour  of  three  or  four  years'  dura- 
tion.    Impelled  by  the  same  law  of  knowledge 


*  This  work  is  translated  into  Englisli,  and  sells  in  London  for 
$1.50  ;  but  it  has  been  stereotyped  in  Bostnn,  and  printed  in 
excellent  style,  on  tine  paper,  and  sells  for  25  cents,  single,  and 
$1-2  per  hundred  copies. 


and  sympathy  with  humanity,  he  passed 
through  Denmark,  Hanover,  and  Holland,  and 
an'ived  at  Rotterdam  during  the  Fair.  Here 
he  pauses  a  while  in  admiration  of  its  Repub- 
lican Institutions,  in  which  he  says,  he  "dis- 
covers the  surest  guaranty  of  civil  and  reli- 
gious liberty,  and  a  form  of  government  better 
pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God,  than  an  absolute 
Monarchy.  In  a  Re])ubli(',"  he  continues, 
"  no  ven(iratii)n  or  worship  is  paid  to  any 
man  ;  but  the  highest  and  lowest  think  them- 
selves equal  to  kings  and  emperors  :  the  only 
Being  they  venerate  is  God  ;  and  when  lie 
alone  is  worshipped,  and  men  are  not  adored 
in  His  place,  it  is  most  acceptable  to  Him. 
None  are  slaves,  but  all  are  lords  and  masters, 
under  the  govenmient  of  the  Most  High  God  ; 
and  the  consequence  is,  that  they  do  not  lower 
themselves,  under  the  influence  of  shame  and 
fear,  but  always  preserve  a  firm  and  sound 
mind,  in  a  sound  body  ;  and  with  a  free  spirit 
and  an  erect,  countenance,  commit  themselves 
and  their  conceims  to  God,  who  alone  ought  to 
govern  all  tilings  and  beings.  It  is  not  so  in 
Absolute  Monarchies,  where  men  are  edu- 
cated to  simulation  and  dissimulation  ;  where 
they  learn  lo  have  one  thing  concealed  in  the 
breast,  and  bring  forth  another  on  the  tongue  ; 
and  where  the  minds  of  men,  by  long  custom, 
become  so  false  and  counterfeit,  that  even  in 
Divine  worship,  they  say  one  thing  and  think 
another,  and  then  palm  off  upon  God  their 
adulation  and  hypocrisy."  Are  not  those 
great  thoughts,  to  come  from  a  man  whom 
the  people  have  been  taught  by  sectarians,  to 
calumniate  and  despise  ?  The  ardent  love  of 
freedom,  that  breathes  in  every  word,  was  the 
result  of  no  short-lived  impulse ;  for  years 
afterwards  the  same  ideas  are  presented  in 
his  Memorials  to  the  assembled  Nobles  of 
Sweden,  of  which  notice  will  be  taken  in  the 
proper  place. 

95.  In  his  journey  from  Antwerp  to  Brus- 
sels, he  seems  to  have  paid  great  attention  to 
the  condition  and  oi'dinances  of  tlie  Popish 
church,  and  deeply  felt  the  destitutions  of  those 
times.  He  could  not  help  observing  how  fat, 
lazy,  and  sensual  a  large  portion  of  the  priests 
were,  giving  nothing  to  the  poor  but  fine  words 
and  blessings  ;  while  they  rapaciously  helped 
themselves  to  all  the  good  things  of  this  life. 
He  says  —  •'  The  monks  are  fat  and  corpulent, 
and  do  nothing ;  an  army  of  such  fellows 
might  be  banished  without  loss  to  the  State." 
And  did  not  the  Revolution  that  took  place 
half  a  century  afterwards,  furnish  ample  evi- 
dence of  the  deplorable  influence  of  that  whole 
religious  institution  ?  Thus  Swedenborg  was 
unconsciously  prejjaring  himself,  in  1738,  to 
comprehend  tiie  spiritual  conditions  of  Chris- 
tendom in  174.3,  and  the  subsequent  years. 

90.  In  1738,  at  the  age  of  fifty,  he  arrived 
in  Paris,  where  he  spent  more  than  a  year. 
Of  this  city  he  >ays,  —  "That  pleasure,  or 
more  properly   speaking,  sensuality,    appeal's 


26 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


to  be  carried  to  its  highest  possible  summit. 
It  is  found,"  he  continues,  "  that  the  tax,  which 
they  terra  the  tenths,  yields  one  hundred  and 
fifty  millions  of  dollars  ;  and  that  the  Parisi- 
ans spend  two  thirds  of  this  amount  over  their 
own  city.  In  the  remote  Provinces,  the  tax 
is  not  in  general  fairly  paid,  because  the  peo- 
-ple  make  false  returns.  One  fifth  of  the 
whole  possessions  of  the  French  kingdom,  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  ecclesiastical  order  ;  and 
if  this  condition  of  things  lasts  long,  the  ruin 
of  the  empire  will  be  speedy."  Who  will  not 
think  of  the  most  terrible  page  of  modern 
history,  as  he  reads  these  quiet  and  sagacious 
words  of  Swedenborg  ?  When  it  is  remem- 
bered that  we  are  writing  of  one,  whose  deep 
thoughts  live  in  the  hearts  of  thousands,  and 
soon'  will  of  millions,  whose  life  marks  an 
epoch,  and  whose  character  was  formed  under 
Providence,  to  qualify  him  for  his  great  mis- 
sion, no  circumstances  should  be  regarded  as 
unimportant :  for  they  make  us  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  man  and  the  author,  and,  to 
know  that  he  visited  every  place  that  usually 
attracts  a  stranger  in  a  great  city,  —  to  follow 
him  to  the  CathoHc  Churches  and  Monasteries, 
the  Hotels,  Palaces,  Public  Gardens,  Galleries, 
and  even  the  Theatres  of  Paris,  is  to  be  satis- 
fied that  he  was  an  experienced  observer  of 
human  life,  that  he  was  not  a  secluded  vis- 
ionary, moralizing  on  thiiigs  of  which  he  had 
no  knowledge,  but  was  qualified  to  speak  from 
what  he  had  heard  and  seen  in  our  world.  At- 
tention is  called  to  these  facts,  because  it  has 
been  objected,  that  Swedenborg  was  wanting 
in  that  eminent  sanctity  and  retirement,  which 
it  is  supposed,  should  distinguish  an  apostolic 
mind  ;  an  objection  which  has  been  made  by 
those  who  admit  at  the  same  time,  the  probity  and 
innocence  of  his  character,  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  of  his  long  and  eventful  life.  As 
the  objection  implies,  that  the  "  gifts  of  the 
spirit"  can  be  imparted  only  to  those  who 
possess  an  ascetic  contempt  for  society  and  its 
duties,  it  really  pays  an  involuntary  tribute  to 
his  honesty,  and  recommends  his  case  on  the 
grounds  of  common  sense  and  intelligence. 
Indeed,  his  whole  life  answers  the  purport  of 
the  Savior's  prayer,  that  his  Disciples  might 
not  be  taken  out  of  the  world,  but  that  they 
might  be  kept  from  the  evil. 

97.  As  characteristic  of  our  author's  genius, 
we  find  the  following  item  in  his  note  book, 
made  during  his  sojourn  in  Paris.  After  re- 
cording a  visit  to  the  Tuileries  gardens,  he 
adds,  "  My  walk  was  exceedingly  pleasant  to- 

,  day ;  I  was  meditating  on  the  forms  of  the 
pai  tides  in  the  atmospheres." 

98.  Leaving  Paris  in  1739.  our  author  di- 
rected his  steps  towards  Italy,  crossed  the 
Alps,  and  passed  through  Turin,  Venice, 
Verona,  Mantua,  Milan,  Genoa,  Florence  and 
Pisa,  and  entered  Rome  in  the  fall  of  the  year. 
Of  the  worki  of  Art  which  he  saw,  he  could 


not  find  words  to  express  his  admiration  ;  and 
his  Journal  breaks  off  abruptly  in  Genoa,  and 
leaves  him  admiring  the  Portrait  of  Christo- 
pher Columbus,  the  discoverer  of  a  New 
World.  His  visit  to  Rome  is  remarkable  for 
bringing  the  church  of  the  Past,  and  that  of  the 
Future,  the  dead  and  the  living,  into  a  singu- 
lar connection  with  each  other.  Rome,  in  the 
still  atmosphere  and  fading  light  of  Autumn, 
with  all  its  trophies  of  Roman  and  Christian 
Art,  and  its  hoary  traditions  ;  and  Sweden- 
borg, the  predestined  Seer  of  the  Last  Ages, 
whose  eye  was  just  kindling  with  the  light  of 
Insi)iration.  >Saddlet,  Bishop  of  Corpentras, 
once  said,  "  I  know  not  how  nature  has  created 
me,  but  I  cannot  hate  a  person  because  he 
does  not  agree  with  me  in  opinions  ; "  and 
Swedenborg,  ardently  as  he  loved  Progress 
and  Liberty,  could  not  hate  Rome  for  its  dis- 
sent on  these  momentous  subjects.  It  was  no 
more  possible,  so  deeply  was  he  impressed 
with  a  passion  for  the  Beautiful,  and  a  love  of 
Antiquity,  to  detect  a  pestilence  in  the  air  of 
Italy,  and  crime  in  its  regal  sumptuousness,  as 
Luther  had  done,  than  to  have  followed  the 
earlier  examples  of  this  Reformer,  and  fallen 
on  his  knees,  in  adoration  of  its  sanctity.  At 
this  period,  Swedenborg  does  not  seem  to  have 
had  any  more  than  an  ordinary  consciousness 
of  spiritual  things,  and  perhaps  no  one  had 
less  personal  feeling,  or  troubled  his  head  less 
about  points  of  faith  and  doctrine,  than  he 
did.  He  was  only  one  of  the  favored  sons  of 
Learning,  whose  highest  ambition  was  to  per- 
fect a  philosophy  of  the  soul :  while  inwardly, 
and  deeper  than  his  own  consciousness,  God 
was  maturing  him  to  evangelize  the  Church. 
And  whoever  would  comprehend  our  author, 
must  begin  by  understanding  how  necessary 
it  was,  before  the  New  Ages  could  be  an- 
nounced, to  Christianize  Science  and  Philoso- 
phy, at  least  in  the  mind  of  one  man,  before 
they  could  become  universally,  the  stepping 
stones  to  Heaven. 

Economy  of  the  Animal  Elingdom. 

99.  Swedenborg  nowhere  informs  us  what 
the  work  was  he  went  abroad  to  publish :  at 
one  time,  we  find  him  meditating  a  Treatise, 
to  prove  that  "  The  Soul  of  Wisdom  has  in  it 
the  knoivledge  and  acknowledgment  of  the 
Deity : "  It  is  reported  that  while  at  Rome, 
he  published,  "  Two  Dissertations  on  the  Ner- 
vous Fibre  and  the  Nervous  Fluid;"  and 
another  "  On  Intermittent  Fever:"  and  one 
on  "  Thoughts  on  the  Origin  of  tlijs  Soul,  and 
Hereditary  Evil."  During  his  stay  at  Venice, 
he  says  in  his  Diary,  that  he  "  had  completed 
his  work  : "  which  is  supposed  to  be  his 
"  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,"  pub- 
lished at  Amsterdam,  in  1740  and  1741. 

100.  At  the  outset  of  these  studies,  he  in- 
forms us  that  he  had  come  to  the  "  determination 
to  penetrate  from  the  very  cradle  to  the  ma- 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


27 


turity  of  Nature  ;  "  from  tlic  atoms  of  Chemis- 
istry  to  the  atoms  of  Astronomy  ;  from  the 
smallest  group  to  the  largest ;  from  the  molec- 
ular to  the  universal:  and  this  determination. 
which  had  impelled  along  the  varied  line  of 
Physics,  now  took  wings,  and,  combining 
with  a  higher  nature,  carried  him  into  the 
realms  of  Organization.  lie  had  touched 
upon  this  region  many  times,  in  the  course  of 
his  previous  efforts,  but  quietly  and  modestly, 
as  it  were,  with  pausing  footsteps.  In  his 
Miscellaneous  Observations^  he  had  admii-ed 
the  easy  and  graceful  circulation  of  the  blood  in 
the  Capillaries,  or  hair-like  vessels  ;  in  a  man- 
uscript work  of  about  the  same  date,  he  went 
into  a  discussion  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Mem- 
branes, and  followed  the  same  track  as  Dr. 
Hartley  afterwards,  in  his   famous  scheme  of 

-  vibrations.  In  the  Prinripia,  he  had  laid  down 
the  law,  that  the  Human  Frame  is  an  organism 
respondent  to  the  vibrations  and  powers  of 
all  the  earthly  elements ;  that  there  is  a  mem- 
brane and  a  fluid  in  the  body,  beating  time 
and  keeping  time,  with  the  airs,  and  auras  of 
the  Universe  ;  and  that  Jlan  and  Nature  are 
coordinate  in  the  anatomical  sphere  ;  that  the 
body  is  one  vast  instinct,  acting  according  to 
the  circumstances  of  the  external  worlds.     In 

^his  Philosophy  of  the  Injinite,  this  Corre- 
spondence is  reasserted  in  a  masterly  style,  and 
the  human  body  is  opened,  as  a  machine, 
whose  wisdom  harmonizes  with  God  alone, 
and  leads  rightly-disposed  minds  to  Him  :  but 
in  all  these  works,  the  author's  deductions  are 
close  to  facts,  comparatively  timid,  and  limited 
to  the  service  of  the  particular  argument  in 
liand.  Yet  it  is  easy  to  see,  from  all,  that  he 
was  laboriously  wending  his  way  from  the 
first,  to  the  temple  of  the  body,  at  whose  altar 
he  expected  to  find  the  Soul,  as  the  priest  of 
the  Most  High  God. 

101.  His  studies,  for  compassing  this  grand 
object,  were  of  no  common  intensity  :  he  made 
himself  acquainted  with  the  works  of  the  best 
anatomists  of  his  time,  (and  there  were  giants 
in  those  days,)  and  formed  from  them  a  manu- 
script Cyclopaedia  for  his  own  use  :  it  is  said, 
that  he  attended  the  instructions  of  the  great 
Boerhaave,  at  the  same  time  as  the  elder 
Munroe  ;  and  he  informs  us  that  he  had  prac- 
tised in  the  dissecting  room,  though  he  de- 
rived his  principal  knowledge  from  Plates  and 
Books.  Evidently,  his  vocation  lay  in  the 
interpretation  of  facts,  rather  than  in  their  per- 
sonal collection  ;  he  received  the  raw  materials, 
and  wrought  them  into  the  beautiful  fabrics 
of  wisdom. 

102.  And  now,  after  full  preparatipn  —  after 
having  considered  the  indefinitely  small  sphere 
and  the  indefinitely  great,  and  laid  down  a 
flooring  of  intelligible  doctrine  in  the  vague- 
ness of  both,  after  having  sailed  in  observa- 
tion around  the  known  shores  of  the  external 
world,  we  next  find  Swedenborg,  face  to  face 


with  the  TKMrr.E  oi'^  our  body  ;  the  most 
really  finite  of  the  pieces  of  ])hysics,  because 
it  contains  the  gathered  ends  of  all  things. 
Here  humanity  i«  no  longer  perplexed  by  laws 
and  forces,  apjiarcntly  alien  to  itself,  but  final 
causes,  and  the  principle  of  the  sufficient  rea- 
son, begin  to  bear  absolute  rule  :  accordingly, 
in  his  fifty-second  and  fifty-third  years,  the 
Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom  is  pub- 
lished ;  and  though  the  range  of  thought  is 
loftier  than  heretofore,  yet  it  comes  more  home 
to  our  business  and  bosoms  ;  it  presents  us 
with  more  of  sensation,  and  of  understanding, 
and  penetrates  with  a  more  rightful  directness 
to  our  sympathies  .as  men.  In  this  most  pre- 
cise finite,  we  feel  that  the  Infinite  is  nearer 
than  in  the  world,  separated  only  by  that  thin- 
nest  wall  and  membrane,  which,  in  constitut- 
ing our  first  ends  or  limits,  also  forms  the 
ground  of  our  peculiar  life. 

103.  Man  as  an  individual  body  —  as  a 
denizen  of  the  universe  —  man,  therefore,  as 
interpreted  by  anatomy,  by  tlie  circle  of  the 
physical  sciences,  by  trite  obsei'vation,  and  the 
whole  breadth  of  common  sense  —  man  as  indi- 
cated to  himself  by  private  and  public  history, 
and  human  speech  and  action,  (for  always 
"  the  substantial  form  coincides  with  the  .form 
of  action,")  —  this  is  the  man,  and  this  the; 
body,  which  our  author  undertook  to  investi- 
gate: In  such  an  inquiry,  so  defined,  it  is 
obvious,  that  metaphysics  is  at  once  refunded 
into  physics  and  the  experimental  and  histori- 
cal sciences,  and  disappears  from  the  scene  it 
has  obscured,  never  to  return.  AVithout  deny- 
ing credit  to  other  writers,  or  pretending  that 
SwedenHorg  knew  all  our  modern  facts,  or  has 
in  any  way  exhausted  even  his  own  method 
antl  subjects,  still,  we  are  bound  in  honesty  to 
declare,  that  we  know  of  no  works  like  these, 
for  giving  the  whole  mind  satisfaction  on  the 
doctrine  of  the  body.  And  if  there  is  one 
obligation  which  we  owe  to  them,  deeper  than 
another,  it  is,  that  by  filling  the  understand- 
ing with  accurate  and  cardinal  instances  of  the 
Divine  Wisdom  and  Love,  in  his  living  crea- 
tion, they  leave  no  {)lace  for  metaphysics  ;  and 
thus,  without  a  frown  or  a  blow,  they  achieve 
an  intellectual  redemption  from  that  great 
pestilence,  which  has  oppressed  the  world  for 
more  than  two  millenniums  —  that  miasm  of 
an  inhuman  theology,  which  nothing  but  a 
pletnus  of  respirable  truth  could  shut  out  of 
our  orb  :  and  they  give  us  more  order,  law 
and  life  in  the  subjects  of  the  lower  sciences, 
than  the  philosophers  have  been  able  to  find 
or  show,  in  the  whole  of  "  consciousness " 
hitherto,  and  thereby  fairly  planted  the  foot 
of  even  those  lower  sciences,  upon  the  haughty 
neck  of  metaphysics  ;  in  sliort,  they  comply 
with  the  conditions  of  the  Baconian  logic,  pro- 
ducing "  not  arguments  but  arts,  not  what  agrees 
with  principles,  but  principles  themselves." 

lOi.   The  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom 


28 


LITE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


considered  Anatomically,  Phijsiologically,  and 
Philosophically,  consists  of"  Three  Parts,  the 
First  oil  the  Blood,  Blood  Vessels  and  Heart, 
with  an  introduction  to  Rational  Psycholojry  ; 
the  Second,  on  the  Animation  of  the  Brain 
synchronous  with  the  Res|)iration  of  the  Lungs; 
on  the  Cortical  Substance  of  the  Brain,  and 
on  the  Human  Soul ;  the  Third  treats  princi- 
pally of  the  Human  Fibres,  and  expounds  the 
various  manner,  in  which  the  beams  and 
timbers  of  the  body  are  laid  ;  especially  the 
construction  of  the  Frame,  somewhat  as  the 
Principia  unfolds  the  elementary  construction 
of  the  Universe.  It  also  considers  the  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  fibres  ;  the  form  of  their  fluxion, 
and  the  Doctrine  of  Forms  generally  ;  and 
lastly,  in  a  most  masterly  style,  and  with  a 
power  of  observation  and  analysis  new  in 
medicine,  the  Diseases  of  the  Fibres.  In  the 
weightiness  of  its  truths,  in  sustained  order  of 
exposition,  in  felicity  of  phrase,  and  in  finish 
and  completeness,  it  is  not  surpassed  by  any 
scientilic  work  that  the«author  published:  and 
it  contains  so  much  that  is  peculiar,  as  to  form 
an  indispensable  addition  to  his  other  volumes. 

105.  We  here  introduce  a  notice  of  some  dis- 
coveries, in  this  work,  which  were  afterwards 
attributed  to  others.  The  coincidences  were 
noticed  and  published  by  Mr.  C.  A.  Tulk,  of 
Loudon,  a  gentleman  who  has  paid  much  at- 
tention to  Swedenborg's  philosophical  words. 

In  a  work  entitled,  "The  Institutions  of 
Physiology,"  by  Bluinenbach,  treating  of  the 
brain,  he  says,  "  that  after  birth  it  undergoes 
a  constant  and  gentle  motion  correspondent 
with  respiration ;  so  that  when  the  lungs 
shrink  in  expiration,  the  brain  rises,  a  little, 
but  when  the  chest  expands,  it  again  subsides." 
In  the  note  he  adds,  that  Daniel  Schlichting 
first  accurately  described  this  phenomenon  in 
1744.  Now  it  does  so  happen  that  Swe'den- 
borg  had  fully  demonstrated,  and  accurately 
described,  this  correspondent  action,  in  that 
chapter  of  the  OCconomia  Regni  Animalis, 
which  treats  of  the  coincidence  of  motion  be- 
tween the  brain  and  lungs.  In  another  part 
of  the  same  "  Institutions  of  Physiology," 
when  speaking  of  the  causes  for  the  motion  of 
tho  blood,  Blumenbach  has  the  following  re- 
mark :  •'  When  the  blood  is  expelled  from  the 
contracted  cavities,  a  vacuum  takes  place,  into 
which,  according  to  the  common  laws  of  deri- 
vation, the  neighboring  blood  must  rush,  being 
prevented,  by  means  of  the  valves,  from  re- 
eurgitating."  In  the  notes,  this  discovery  is 
attributed  to  Dr.  Wilson,  the  author  of  An 
Inquiry  into  the  Moving  Powers  employed  in 
the  Circulation  of  the  Blood.  But  it  appears 
that  the  same  principle  was  known  long  before 
to  Swedenborg  ;  and  is  applied  by  him  to  ac- 
count for  the  motion  of  the  blood,  in  the 
CEconomia  Regni  Animalis.  For  in  the  sec- 
tion on  the  circulation  of  blood  in  the  foetus, 
and  on  the  foramen  ovale,  he  says,  "  Let  us 


now  revert  to  the  mode  by  which  the  cerebrum 
attracts  its  blood,  or,  according  to  the  theorem, 
subtracts  that  quantity  which  the  ratio  of  ita 
state  requires.  If  now  these  arteries,  veins, 
and  sinus  are  dilated  by  reason  of  the  anima- 
tion of  the  cerebrum,  it  follows,  that  there 
must  necessarily  flow  into  them  thus  expanded, 
a  portion  of  fresh  blood,  and  that  indeed  by 
continuity  from  the  carotid  artery,  and  its  tor- 
tuous duct  in  the  cavernous  receptacles,  and 
into  this  by  continuity  from  the  antecedent 
expanded  and  circumflexed  cavities  of  the 
same  artery  ;  consequently  from  the  external 
(or  common)  carotid,  and  thence  from  the 
aorta  and  the  heart ;  nearly  similar  to  a  blad- 
der or  syphon  full  of  water,  one  end  of  which 
is  immersed  in  the  fluid  ;  if  its  sides  be  dilated, 
or  its  surface  stretched  out,  and  more  especial- 
ly if  its  length  be  shortened,  an  entirely  fresh 
portion  of  the  fluid  flows  into  the  space  thus 
emptied  by  the  enlargement ;  and  this  experi- 
ence can  demonstrate  to  ocular  satisfaction. 
Now  this  is  the  beneficial  result  of  a  natural 
equation,  by  which  nature,  in  order  to  avoid  a 
vacuum,  in  which  state  she  would  perish,  or 
be  annihilated,  is  in  the  constant  tendency 
towards  an  equilibrium,  according  to  laws 
purely  physical.  This  mode  of  action  of  the 
brains,  and  their  arterial  impletion,  may  justly 
be  called  physical  attraction ;  not  that  it  is  at- 
traction in  the  proper  signification  of  the 
terra,  but  that  it  is  a  filling  of  the  vessels  from 
a  dilation  or  shortening  of  the  coats,  or  a 
species  oi  suction  such  as  exist  in  pumps  and 
syringes.  A  like  mode  of  physical  attraction 
obtains  in  every  part  of  the  body  ;  as  in  the 
muscles,  which  having  forcibly  expelled  their 
blood,  instantly  require  a  reimpletion  of  their 
vessels."  In  another  part,  458,  he  says, 
"  There  exists  a  great  similitude  between  the 
vessels  of  the  heart,  and  the  vessels  of  the 
brains,  so  much  so,  that  the  latter  cannot  be 
more  appropriately  compared  with  any  other. 
4.  The  vessels  of  the  cerebrum  perform  their 
diastole,  when  the  cerebrum  is  in  its  constric- 
tion, and  vice  versa  ;  so  also  the  vessels  of  the 
heart.  5.  In  the  vessels  of  the  cerebrum 
there  is  a  species  of  physical  attraction  or 
suction,  such  as  that  of  water  in  a  syringe ; 
and  this  too  is  the  case  with  the  vessels  of 
the  heart,  for  in  these,  by  being  expanded  and 
at  the  same  time  shortened,  the  blood  neces- 
sarily flows,  and  that  into  the  space  thus  en- 
larged." Swedenborg  says  also,  "  that  it  is 
this  constant  endeavor  to  establish  a  general 
equilibrium  throughout  the  body,  which  deter- 
mines its  various  fluids  to  every  part,  whether 
viscus  or  member,  and  which  being  produced 
by  exhaustion,  the  ettect  is  such  a  determina- 
tion of  the  blood,  or  other  fluid,  as  the  pecu- 
liar state  of  the  part  requires." 

The  Blood  and  the  Spirituous  Fluid. 
106.  As  we  wish  to  present  the  reader  with 


LIFE   AND   WHITINGS    OF    EMANUEL    SWEDENIJOTIG. 


29 


ns  full  a  view  as  possible,  consistently  with  our 
.imits,  of  the  way  in  which  Swedenborg  wended 
.lis  way  through  matter  to  the  soul,  and  of  the 
profundity  of  his  genius  wiiile  laboring  among 
ihe  occult  powers  and  substaiices  of  the  human 
mechanism,  we  introduce  here  another  extract 
from  "  Rich's  Sketch  "  concerning  his  doctrine 
of  the  blood  and  the  spirituous  iluid.  It  will 
oe  interesting  at  least  to  certain  scientific  men 
and  half-way  materialists,  or  to  those  treading 
on  the  borders  of  the  spirit  world,  but  still 
lingering  amid  a  subtle  materialism  ;  and  it  is 
liighly  interesting  as  showing  the  near  ap- 
proach, by  gradual  steps,  of  Swedenborg  to 
ids  grand  discovery. 

107.  "All  the  separate  elements  of  this  doc- 
trine had  been  extant,  some  for  years,  and 
some  for  ages,  before  Swedenborg's  time.  The 
fact  of  a  spirituous  or  nervous  fluid,  for  exam- 
ple, had  always  been  entertained  in  the  ortho- 
dox creed  of  physiology ;  its  eminent  subtilty, 
and  active  force  being  also,  of  necessity,  re- 
cognized at  the  same  time.  Some  mode  of 
reciprocation  or  mutual  exchange  of  offices  in 
rlie  Animal  Economy,  between  this  fluid  and 
the  red  blood,  had  likewise  been  divined.  To 
v.hich  may  be  added,  the  functions  of  the  cor- 
rical  glands  first  observed  by  Malpighi,  under 
the  microscope,  who  remarked  that  the  animal 
spirit  was  carried  from  them  into  the  medulla 
ol)longata  through  little  channels  proceeding 
from  every  separate  gland.  The  globule  of 
red  blood  and  its  composition  of  minute  pel- 
lucid spherules,  again,  were  subjects  of  recent 
observation  ;  and  similar  remarks  apply  to  the 
volatile  and  fixed  salts  ;  and  also  to  the  nature 
of  the  serum.  These  things  were  subjects 
either  of  general  or  particular  experience, 
but  there  were  no  philosophical  doctrines 
which  bound  them  all  together  into  a  perfect 
system ;  and  much  less  which  proposed  to  make 
them  the  basis  of  a  Rational  Psychology. 
The  materials  were  ready ;  the  edifice  was  to 
be  built. 

108.  "  In  the  following  summary  it  will  be 
easy  to  discover  the  points  where  the  applica- 
tion of  Swedenborg's  new  doctrine  has  fairly 
entitled  him  to  the  rank  of  a  master  builder 
in  this  branch  of  science.  It  must  be  admitted 
that  the  doctrine  of  degrees,  which  is  tlie  bond 
or  cement  of  the  whole,  had  been  anticipated 
by  Christian  Wolff,  and  applied  by  him  to  the 
auras  of  the  universe  ;  but  the  history  of 
the  "  Principia  "  affords  sufficient  proof  that 
Swedenborg's  discovery  of  its  important  laws 
was  an  independent  one. 

109.  "  Commencing  in  the  highest  degree, 
we  find  that  a  certain  fluid,  transcending  all 
others  in  purity,  which  is  interiorly  conceived 
m  the  cortical  substance  of  the  brain,  the 
medulla  oblongata,  and  medulla  spinalis,  and  is 
thence  emitted  into  all  the  medullary  fibres  or 
origins  of  the  nerves,  runs  through  tlie  most 
diminutive  and  attenuate  vessels,  stamina  and 
(ibrules,  and  traverses  and  supplies  with  moist- 


ure every  living  point  and  corner  of  the  body. 
The  circulation  of  this  fluid  establishes  a 
communication  between  the  fibres  and  the  ves- 
sels, by  means  of  wlwcli  it  enters  into  the 
blood  as  its  vital  essence.  Its  principal  stream, 
likewise,  descending  through  ap])ro[)riate  chan- 
nels from  the  I)rain,  is  poured  into  the  subcla- 
vian vein,  and  is  there  associated  with  the 
chyle  of  the  Thoracic  duct,  and  conveyed  to 
the  heart,  wliere  it  concurs  in  the  formation  of 
the  blood. 

110.  "  In  the  second  degree,  proceeding  ge- 
netically, certain  aromal,  ethereal,  or  exceeding- 
ly volatile  substances,  are  associated  with  this 
pure  fluid  and  constitute  a  middle  kind  of 
blood.  The  third  degree  arises  from  the  fur- 
ther accession  of  various  salts,  oils,  etc.,  af- 
fording the  means  by  which  the  second  or 
purer  blood  coalesces  with  the  body,  and  is 
enabled  to  discharge  the  functions  of  the  soul 
in  the  animal  kingdom.  The  red  globule  is 
also  surrounded  by  a  serum,  which  is  the  at- 
mosphere, so  to  speak,  in  which  the  blood 
flows,  and  from  which  it  derives  its  elements, 
namely,  tlie  spirits,  oils,  and  salts  of  every 
kind  already  alluded  to,  which  are  perpetually 
conveyed  to  the  serum  through  the  medium  of 
the  chyle,  and  in  water  as  a  vehicle.  Similar 
substances  are  also  conveyed  into  the  serum 
by  means  of  the  air  in  which  they  are  fluent, 
and  by  the  instrumentality  of  the  lungs  ;  the 
open  mouths  or  little  li|)s  of  the  veins  suck- 
ing in  the  atmospherical  salts  which  agree 
with  them  and  which  are  drawn  towards  them 
by  every  inspiration. 

111.  "The  blood  therefore,  is  the  storehouse 
and  seminary,  the  parent  and  nourisher,  of  all 
the  parts  of  the  body,  solid,  soft,  and  fluid,  in  its 
own  kingdom  :  for  nothing  can  enter  into  the 
texture  of  the  general  system,  except  by  pass- 
ing fhrough  the  sanguineous  passages.  It  is 
obvious,  also,  that  all  the  contingents  of  animal 
life,  are  dependent  on  the  constitution,  deter- 
mination, continuity,  and  quantity  of  the 
blood  :  and  that  in  it  we  may  reasonably  look 
for  the  exciting  causes  which  determine  the 
quality  and  variation  of  state  attributable  to 
the  life  of  the  body. 

112.  "  From  an  attentive  consideration  of 
all  the  elements  which  enter  into  the  composi- 
tion of  the  blood,  and  especially  of  the  im- 
ponderable elements,  the  ether,  etc.,  it  is  do 
monstrable  that  the  spirituous  fluid  constituti-s 
the  essence  of  the  life  and  activity  propei-  to 
the  blood;  and  that  from  this  fluid,  and  by  tlie 
medium  of  a  copious  volatile  substance  de- 
rived from  the  ether,  there  exists  a  pellucid  or 
middle  blood.  Lastly,  through  the  medium  of 
various  salts  employed  in  tempering  the  in- 
tense activity  of  the  spirituous  fluid,  in  pro- 
moting the  unity  or  consistence  of  the  whole, 
in  the  local  determination  of  form,  and  in  vari- 
ous ministrations  to  animal  life,  there  emerges 
the  red  and  heavy  blood.  Into  these  origi- 
nal principles    the   latter   suffers  itself  to    be 


30 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


divided  according  to  degrees,  during  its  pro- 
gress through  corresponding  vessels,  namely, 
those  of  a  like  order  with  itself,  the  capillary 
tubes,  and  the  fibres. 

113.  "If  therefore  we  would  lay  open  the 
nature  of  the  globule,  we  must  conceive  that 
the  spirituous  fluid  constitutes  the  first  order 
or  degree ;  the  pellucid  blood  cousisting  of 
piano-oval  spherules,  the  second  order  ;  and 
the  red  blood,  which  thus  enjoys,  as  it  were,  a 
triple  maternity,  the  third.  The  latter  is  pre- 
sumed to  consist,  for  the  most  part,  of  six 
piano-oval  spherules,  (the  blood  of  the  second 
degree,)  fitted  into  so  many  hollow  sides  of  a 
single  particle  of  fixed  salt,  and  hence  arises 
the  spherical  figure  of  the  whole,  as  clearly 
discerned  by  Leuwenhoek,  and  confirmed  by 
the  most  recent  observations.  Thus,  given 
the  external  structure  of  the  blood  globule,  we 
find  it  resolvable  into  what  may  be  called  its 
internal  structure  ;  and  Swedenborg  has  clear- 
ly demonstrated  that  the  latter  is  the  causal 
form  or  latent  order  of  the  former.  It  is 
equally  remarkable  that  the  fluxion  itself  indi- 
cated by  the  globule  resolves  into  that  indi- 
cated by  the  parts  of  the  globule  ;  for,  '  the 
first  principle  of  the  spherical  form  is  the  per- 
petually spherical  or  cubico-spiral,  in  which 
substances,  while  in  their  state  of  utmost  ac- 
tivity, describe  an  ellipsis  distinguished  by  its 
poles  and  greater  and  lesser  circles,  according 
to  the  irrefragable  laws  of  geometry  ; '  [Econ- 
omy^ 101.)  This  ellipsis  is  exactly  repre- 
sented by  the  piano-oval  spherules  observed 
by  Leuwenhoek,  and  designated  the  middle,  or 
purer  blood,  or  blood  of  the  second  degree,  by 
our  Author. 

114.  "  Passing  from  the  nature  and  compo- 
sition of  the  blood  itself  to  the  circulation,  we 
enter  the  science  of  Angiology,  or  the  doctrine  of 
the  arteries  and  veins,  which  Swedenborg  has 
extended  —  in  view  of  his  great  unitary  prin- 
ciples —  so  as  to  include  the  doctrine  of  the 
fibres,  or  Neurology,  that  of  the  glands,  and 
of  the  muscles.  The  arteries  and  veins 
themselves  are  regarded  as  determinations  or 
mechanisms  of  the  blood ;  and  as  the  latter  is 
of  a  threefold  origin,  degree,  nature,  compo- 
sition and  name,  so  are  the  former.  In  other 
words,  the  vessels  are  always  accommodated 
to  the  fluid  circulating  in  them.  One  simple 
membrane  encloses  and  conveys  the  spirituous 
fluid  ;  a  reticulated  membrane  whicli  may  be 
considered  as  woven  of  the  former  answers  in 
degree  to  the  pellucid  blood ;  and  a  strong 
muscular  tunic  forms  what  is  commonly  under- 
stood by  the  blood  vessel.  In  conformity  with 
these  various  degrees  of  vessels,  and  of  the 
fluid  which  they  convey,  the  circulation  itself, 
—  though  it  forms  one  universal  system  or  cir- 
cle of  life,  from  the  spirituous  fluid  to  the  gross 
blood, —  is  subtriplicate,  or  divisible  into  three. 
The  red  blood,  passing  into  vessels  of  t!ie 
second  degree,  separates  the  saline,  urinous, 
or  sulphurous  atoms   at  the    phice  of  in  rress. 


and  thus  enters  them  in  its  pellucid  state  ; 
and  the  pellucid  blood,  entering  in  its  turn  the 
nervous  canals  and  vessels  of  the  third  degree, 
separates  the  ethereal  elements,  and  enters 
them  in  its  naked  spirituous  state.  These 
separations  being  effected  by  glands  and  vesi- 
cles of  several  kinds,  is  the  reason  of  these 
organs,  —  so  little  understood  by  physiologists 
even  of  the  present  day,  —  being  compre- 
hended by  Swedenborg  in  his  general  doctrine 
of  the  circulation.  After  reaching  the  fibres, 
the  blood  continues  its  passage  through  them, 
returns  into  the  vessels  of  the  second  and 
third  orders,  and  becomes  again  compounded 
by  passing  through  degrees  similar  to  those 
by  which  it  had  become  divided.  It  is  in  this 
returning  circulation  that  the  genial  spirit  of 
the  nervous  fibre  infuses  itself  into  the  ves- 
sels, and  constitutes  itself  the  vital  essence  of 
the  blood,  in  every  point  of  the  body,  as  ob- 
served at  the  commencement  of  this   abstract. 

115.  "It  would  be  extending  our  sketch  to 
limits  wholly  incompatible  with  its  design, 
were  we  to  transcribe,  however  briefly,  the 
application  of  the  Author's  new  doctrines  to 
Miology,  or  the  more  purely  mechanical  part 
of  the  circulation.  Enough  has  been  said  to 
convince  the  reader  that  Swedenborg  alone 
has  taken  up  this  great  discovery  at  the  point 
where  it  was  left  by  the  illustrious  Harvey, 
and  harmonized  it  with  the  rest  of  the  animal 
economy.  It  remains,  however,  to  show  in 
what  measure  the  realization  of  the  Author's 
great  object,  —  the  knowledge  of  the  human 
soul,  —  was  promoted  by  this  course  of  phi- 
losophy. 

IIG.  "It  was  obvious  to  Swedenborg  from 
the  moment  he  had  conceived  the  doctrine 
which  we  have  contemplated  in  some  of  its 
I'esults,  that  animal  life  and  animal  functions 
were  impossible  without  such  degrees.  If  ex- 
terior structures  and  laws  were  not  in  corre- 
spondence with  a  certain  interior  economy, 
whence  could  the  sysiem  derive  its  animation 
and  instincts,  but  from  external  impulses  ? 
And,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  wiiat  other 
laws  could  be  admitted  in  explanation  of  its 
powers,  but  those  of  hydraulics  and  mechan- 
ics ?  Tiie  same,  in  fact,  which  are  supposed 
to  account  for  the  flowing  of  the  streams  and 
the  waving  of  the  grass.  And  what  philoso- 
pher, short  of  the  stark  materialist,  would 
presume  to  account  in  this  way,  even  for  tlie 
lowest  forms  of  intelligence  and  feeling  r 
On  the  other  hand,  those  who  admit  the  fact 
of  an  internal  economy,  and  are  willing  to 
regard  it  as  the  immediate  cause  ol'  the  exter- 
nal, can  have  no  means  of  reali/..!ig  their  own 
thoughts  separate  from  the  doctrine  of  degrees, 
either  expressed  or  understood ;  for  the  nearest 
cause  is  always  a  degree  above  the  ett'ect,  and 
can  never  be  ascertamed  to  the  satisfaction  of 
Inductive  Philosopliy,  except  by  the  resolution 
ot  the  latter,  and  that  by  a  process  fairly  de- 
monstrable to  reason. 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


31 


117.  "Now  such  a  resolution  of  tlic  blood 
globule  had  led  Swedenborg,  both  experiment- 
ally and  reflectively,  to  its  inner  structure,  or 
causal  form,  namely,  the  spherules  of  the  pel- 
lucid blood  ;  but  he  was  by  no  means  willing 
to  pause  here  in  contemplation  of  the  soul,  ex- 
cept indeed  to  observe  the  method  by  which 
she  proceeded  to  coalesce  more  closely  with 
the  body.  The  next  step,  therefore,  was  to 
resolve  the  pellucid  blood,  and  obtain  its  causal 
form.  In  this  attempt  he  was  aware  that 
direct  experience  would  fail  him,  on  account 
of  the  exceedingly  volatile  nature  of  the  ani- 
mal spirit,  which,  according  to  tradition,  and 
all  the  reason  of  the  case,  was  exactly  what 
he  sought.  It  was  possible,  however,  to  ob- 
tain a  good  deal  of  indirect  evidence,  chiefly 
from  observations  on  the  brain,  and  the  forma- 
tion of  the  chicken  in  the  egg,  and  on  the 
foetal  stage  of  human  existence  ;  hence  a 
large' portion  of  the  Economy  is  devoted  to  an 
examination  of  the  phenomena  presented  by 
these  subjects.  On  the  reflective  side  of  this 
problem,  again,  it  was  necessary  to  resolve  the 
forces  of  the  pellucid  blood,  and  to  accomplish 
this,  we  have  already  seen  that  our  philoso- 
pher proposed  to  extend  the  limits  of  pure 
mathematics.  We  shall  hereafter  see  that 
his  continuous  and  profound  thought  on  this 
problem  was  coincident  with  his  earliest  inti- 
mations from  the  world  of  spirits. 

118.  "  Thus,  the  deepest  anatomical  experi- 
ence, and  the  most  profound  evolution  it  could 
undergo  in  the  rational  mind,  ended  in  expos- 
ing this  subtile  fluid,  just  hovering  on  the  bor- 
ders of  the  unknown,  yet  just  within  the  bound- 
ary of  intuition.  The  question  was  whether 
this  was  the  soul.  '  If  we  grant,'  Sweden- 
borg observes,  '  that  the  soul,  as  ours,  is  to  be 
sought  in  ourselves,  anatomical  experience 
presents  this  fluid,  as  the  highest  and  most  in- 
ward, to  the  mind  of  the  anatomist ;  and  then 
hands  it  over  to  the  philosopher  to  be  dis- 
cussed, and  for  him  to  settle  whether  what  he 
knows  from  his  own  axioms,  and  from  the 
rules  of  analytic  order,  should  be  attributed 
to  the  soul,  be  predicable  of  this  fluid.  For 
the  anatomist  proceeds  no  further  than  the 
above  step,  unless  he  at  the  same  time  assume 
the  character  of  a  philosopher.  Something  of 
this  kind  seems  to  be  taken  as  the  fixed  bound- 
ary of  their  ideas  by  Aristotle  and  his  fol- 
lowers ;  the  former  of  whom  treated  system- 
atically of  the  parts  of  the  soul,  and  the 
latter  of  its  physical  influx.  Wherefore  if 
the  animal  fluid  and  the  soul  agree  in  their 
predicates,  no  sound  reason  will  reject  the  fluid 
as  disagreeing  ;  if  otherwise,  no  sound  reason 
will  embrace  it.'  (Economy,  224.)  Nothing 
can  surpass  this  statement  ot  his  position,  in 
honesty  and  clearness.  It  conceals  nothing ; 
and  it  assumes  nothing  but  what  shall  be 
granted  as  a  fair  deduction  from  experience 
and  reason.  But  we  have  yet  to  see  the  con- 
clusion to.w!.:;-h  it  Ic'l  Mm. 


119.  "  The  spirituous  fluid,  then,  makes  its 
appearance  as  the  substantia  prima,  or  first 
substance  of  the  body  ;  but  Swedenborg  has 
a  doctrine  of  Series  which  always  accompanies 
that  of  Degrees,  and  according  to  which  the 
first  in  a  given  system,  or  number  of  phenom- 
ena, may  be  the  last  or  any  other  denomina- 
tion in  another  system.  In  this  manner,  the 
spirituous  fluid,  which  is  regarded  as  the  form 
of  forms  in  the  body,  and  as  the  formative 
substance,  which  draws  the  thread  from  the 
first  living  point,  and  continues  it  afterwards  to 
the  last  point  of  life,  is  \XiQ\'i  formed  or  pas- 
sive, when  viewed  in  relation  to  the  whole 
universe  ;  and  consequently  derives  its  being 
from  a  still  higher  substance.  On  this  uni- 
versal substance,  according  to  Swedenborg, 
the  principles  of  natural  things  are  impressed 
by  the  Deity,  and  in  it  are  involved  the  most 
perfect  forces  of  nature  :  hence  it  may  be 
regarded  as  coincident  with  what  Aristotle  de- 
nominates pure  reason,  or  the  entelecheia  of 
substances,  and  with  the  Platonic  heaven  of 
ideal  forms.  The  substantia  prima,  however, 
according  to  Swedenborg,  does  not  itself  live, 
and  consequently,  the  spirituous  fluid  of  the 
body,  which  is  derived  from  it,  cannot  be  said 
to  live,  much  less  to  feel,  perceive,  and  under 
stand,  or  regard  ends.  '  Life,'  he  remarks,  in 
treating  of  this  subject,  'corresponds  as  a 
principal  cause  to  nature  as  an  instrumental 
cause.  For  what  is  motion  in  nature  is  action 
in  a  living  subject;  what  is  modification  in 
nature  is  sensation  in  a  living  subject ;  what 
is  effort  in  nature  is  will  in  a  living  subject ; 
what  is  light  in  nature  is  life  in  a  living  sub- 
ject ;  what  is  distinction  of  light  in  nature  is 
intellect  of  life  in  a  living  subject ;  what  is 
cause  and  effect  in  nature  is  end  in  a  living 
subject,  etc'  (Economy,  235.)  Life  and  in- 
telligence, therefore,  are  regarded  as  flowing 
into  nature  from  their  First  Esse,  or  Infinite 
Source. 

120.  "  Now,  (following  the  Author,)  it  is  by 
the  continual  influx  of  this  life  and  intelligence 
that  the  Deity  impresses  the  ideal  forms  or 
principles  of  natural  things  on  the  primordial 
fluid  of  the  universe,  and  by  a  similar  influx 
into  the  spirituous  fluid,  that  men  acquire  in- 
telligence and  active  power.  '  But,'  to  quote 
Swedenborg's  own  words,  '  to  know  the  man- 
ner in  which  this  life  and  wisdom  flow  in,  is 
infinitely  above  the  sphere  of  the  human  mind  : 
there  is  no  analysis  and  no  abstraction  that  can 
reach  so  high:  for  whatever  is  in  God,  and  what- 
ever law  God  acts  by,  is  God.  The  only 
representation  we  can  have  of  it,  is  in  the  way 
of  comparison  with  light.  For  as  the  sun  is 
the  fountain  of  light  and  the  distinctions  there- 
of in  its  universe,  so  the  Deity  is  the  sun  of 
life  and  of  all  wisdom.  As  the  sun  of  the 
world  flows  in  one  only  manner,  and  without 
unition,  into  the  subjects  and  objects  of  its 
universe,  so  also  does  the  sun  of  life  and  oi 
'vij.lor.i.      .\-   ;";v>    i^un    of  I'lC  world   To'-vs   v\ 


82 


LIFE  AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


by  mediating  auras,  so  the  sun  of  life  and  of 
wisdom  tiows  in  by  the  mediation  of  his  spirit. 
But  as  the  sun  of  (he  world  flows  into  subjects 
and  objects  according  to  the  modified  charac- 
ter of  each,  so  also  does  the  sun  of  life  and 
of  wisdom.  .  .  .  The  one  is  physical,  the 
other  is  purely  moral :  and  the  one  falls  under 
the  philosophy  of  the  mind,  while  the  other 
lies  withdrawn  among  the  sacred  mysteries  of 
Theology.'  251.  Thus  two  distinct  principles 
are  supposed  to  concur  in  forming  the  human 
soul,  namely,  the  spirituous  fluid,  formed  and 
determined  by  the  substantia  prima  of  the 
universe,  and  a  continual  influx  of  life  and  in- 
telligence from  God,  the  one  natural,  the  other 
spirituaL 

121.  "After  establishing  these  principles, 
Swedenborg  does  not  hesitate  to  call  the  spir- 
ituous fluid  itself,  or,  strictly  speaking,  its  opera- 
tion, the  soul,  and  to  speak  of  it  as  having  intelli- 
gence, and  all  the  attributes,  in  fact,  which  consti- 
tute man  ;  although  before  explaining  its  recep- 
tion of  an  influx  from  God  —  and  consequently, 
when  describing  it  as  an  organic  substance  or 
body  of  the  soul  —  he  had  spoken  of  it  as  in- 
capable of  feeling  and  perception.  The  in- 
ference is  that  a  man's  real  individuality  — 
bis  interior  man  —  consists  in  a  state  of  con- 
scious being  occasioned  by  the  influx  of  God's 
universal  spirit  into  the  subtile  fluid  which 
runs  through  the  nervous  channels  of  the 
body  —  and  which  has  since  been  called,  in 
the  vocabulary  of  animal  magnetism,  the 
nerve  spirit.  Beyond  this  spirit  or  pneumatic 
vehicle,  as  it  was  termed  by  the  ancients,  there 
is  no  identity  or  individuality  provided  for 
man  in  the  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom ; 
and  accordingly  it  becomes  an  important  ques- 
tion whether  the  spirituous  fluid  -is  to  be 
called  material  or  immaterial.  This  question 
Swedenborg  has  answered  for  himself. 

122.  " '  We  hiive  often  said,'  he  observes, 
*  that  in  regard  to  substance  the  soul  is  a 
fluid,  nay  a  fluid  most  absolute  ;  produced  by 
the  aura  of  the  universe  ;  enclosed  in  the 
fibres ;  the  matter  by  which,  from  which,  and 
for  which  the  body  exists  ;  —  the  superemi- 
nent  organ.  We  have  also  said  that  the  influx- 
ion  of  its  operations  is  to  be  examined  accord- 
ing to  the  nexus  of  organic  substances,  and 
according  to  the  form  determined  by  the  fibres: 
also  that  its  nature,  or  operations  collectively, 
regard  this  fluid  as  their  subject;  and  that 
these  operations,  in  so  far  as  they  are  natural, 
cannot  be  separated  [from  the  fluid]  except  in 
thought;  so  that  nothing  here  occurs  but  ap- 
pears to  be  fairly  comprehended  under  the 
term  matter.  But,  pray,  what  is  matter  ?  If 
it  be  defined  as  extension  endued  with  inertia, 
then  the  soul  is  not  material  ;  for  inertia,  the 
source  of  gravity,  enters  the  posterior  sphere 
simply  by  composition,  and  by  the  addition  of 
a  number  of  things  tliat  through  changes  in 
the  state  of  active  entities  have  become  inert 
and  gravitating ;    for  instance,  all  the    meie 


elements  of  the  earth,  as  salts,  minerals,  etc. 
The  first  aura  of  the  world  is  not  matter  in 
tliis  sense;  for  neither  gravity  nor  levity  can 
be  predicated  of  it ;  but  on  the  contrary,  active 
force,  the  origin  of  gravity,  and  levity  in  terres- 
trial bodies,  which  do  not  of  themselves  regard 
any  common  centre,  unless  there  be  an  acting, 
causing,  and  directing  force.  Hence  neither 
gravity  nor  levity  can  be  predicated  of  this 
fluid,  made  up  as  it  is  of  this  force  or  aura. 
When,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  doctrine 
of  order,  I  have  shown  what  matter  is,  what 
form  is,  what  extension  is,  and  what  a  fluid  i?^ 
we  shall  confess  that  the  controversy  is  about 
the  signification  of  terms,  or  about  the  man- 
ner in  which  something  that  we  are  ignorant 
of  is  to  be  denominated,  —  we  shall  confess 
that  we  are  fighting  with  a  shadow,  without 
knowing  what  body  it  belongs  to  :  however, 
this  slight  garment  alone  is  prepared,  before 
we  have  the  measure,  or  have  seen  the  form 
of  the  body  ;  and  in  order  to  make  it  fit,  we 
figure  to  ourselves  an  idea  of  the  body,  which 
idea  may  be  immaterial.  But  tell  me  whether 
the  ideas  of  the  animus  are  material  or  not  ? 
Perhaps  they  are,  inasmuch  as  images,  and 
even  the  very  eyes  are  material.  But,  as  it 
is  the  office  of  the  soul  to  feel,  to  see,  and  to 
imagine,  equally  as  to  understand  and  think  ; 
yet  the  ideas  of  the  latter  faculties  are  called 
immaterial,  because  intellectual ;  perhaps  be- 
cause the  substances  that  are  their  subjects 
are  not  comprehended  by  sense  ;  and  still  ma- 
terial ideas  not  only  agree  but  communicate 
with  immaterial ;  are  they  then  any  ideas  at 
all  before  they  partake  of  the  life  of  the  soul? 
Apart  from  this,  are  they  not  modifications  ? 
If  they  are  modifications,  or  analogous  to 
modifications,  then  I  do  not  understand  in  what 
way  an  immaterial  modification  is  distinguished 
from  a  material  modification,  unless  by  de- 
grees, in  that  the  immaterial  is  higher,  more 
universal,  more  perfect,  and  more  impercepti- 
ble. Is  not  every  created  thing  in  tlie  world 
and  nature  a  subject  of  extension  ?  and  may 
not  every  thing  as  extended  be  called  material  ? 
In  fact,  the  first  substance  itself  in  this  sense 
is  the  materia  prima  of  all  other  substances, 
and  every  controversy,  even  our  present  one, 
is  a  matter  of  dispute.  But  let  us  trifle  no 
longer.  According  to  sound  reason,  what- 
ever is  substantial  and  flows  from  a  substantial 
in  the  created  universe  of  nature,  is  matter  : 
therefore  modification  itself  is  matter,  as  it 
does  not  extend  one  iota  beyond  the  limit  of 
substances.  (Part  II.,  n.  293.)  But  as  for 
the  more  noble  essence  or  life  of  the  soul,  it 
is  not  raised  to  any  that  is  more  perfect,  be- 
cause it  is  one  only  essence  ;  but  the  soul  is 
an  organism  formed  by  the  spirituous  fluid,  in 
which  respect  greater  and  lesser  exaltation  may 
be  predicated  of  it.  This  essence  and  life  is 
not  created,  and  therefore  it  is  not  proper  to 
call  it  material :  so  for  the  same  reason  we 
cannot  call  the  soul   material  in  respect  to  its 


LIFE    AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


33 


reception  of  this  life;  nor  therefore  the  mind; 
nor  therefore  the  animus,  nor  the  sight,  nor 
the  hearing,  nor  even  the  body  itself,  so  far 
as  it  lives.  For  all  these  live  the  life  of  their 
soul,  and  the  soul  lives  the  life  of  the  spirit 
of  God,  who  is  not  matter,  but  essence ; 
whose  esse  is  life  ;  whose  life  is  wisdom  ;  and 
whose  wisdom  consists  in  beholding  and  em- 
bracing the  ends  to  be  promoted  by  the  deter- 
minations of  matter  and  the  forms  of  nature. 
Thus  both  materiality  and  immateriality  are 
predicable  of  the  soul ;  and  the  materialist 
and  the  immaterialist  may  each  abide  in  his 
own  opinion.' — n.  .311. 

123.  "This  was  the  point  then  which  Swe- 
denborg  reached  by  his  first  effort  to  obtain  a 
knowledge  of  the  soul  analyticaUy,  or  by  rigid 
induction  ;  and  every  one  must  admit  how 
advanced  his  perceptions  were,  and  how  ad- 
mirably he  preserved  the  idea  of  man's  entire 
dependence  upon  the  Infinite  source  of  life 
and  wisdom,  though,  as  yet  he  was  far  from 
the  solution  of  the  great  problem  with  which 
he  had  set  out.  It  is  the  innocence  of  his 
wisdom  with  which  we  are  delighted  even 
more  than  with  the  wisdom  itself.  The  more 
cogent  or  logical  his  reasons,  the  more  clearly 
we  dJ6cern  God  in  them,  and  man's  utter  im- 
potence and  nothingness ;  the  more  glowing 
and  ornate  his  style,  the  deeper  is  the  rever- 
ence and  awe  which  he  breathes  into  it,  so 
that  self-intellio;ence  is  constrained  to  hang 
its  head,  where  it  would  otherwise  glory  in 
its  gifts  and  apparent  attributes.  Granting 
Materialism  the  utmost  demand  it  could  sus- 
tain by  any  show  of  argument,  Swedenborg 
proves  that,  even  so,  its  machinery  is  utterly 
helpless  without  the  perpetual  influx  of  the 
breath  of  God  ;  and  here  we  may  remark  that 
the  establishment  of  this  theological  tenet  was 
the  first  step  towards  the  preparation  of  science 
for  the  Church.  The  genius  of  religion, 
therefore,  only  imitated,  in  her  humble  sphere, 
the  Descent  and  Incarnation  of  the  Divine 
Being,  when  she  came  to  the  salvation  of  phi- 
losophy in  its  own  frailties ;  and  it  is  praise 
enough  for  Swedenborg  that  he  was  her  chosen 
and  faithful  apostle." 

Brains,  Heart  and  Lungs. 

124.  "  Before  closing  the  Economy  we  must 
not  omit  to  record  the  Author's  discovery  of  the 
animation  of  the  brains,  and  of  its  coincidence 
during  formation  with  the  systole  and  diastole 
of  the  heart,  and  after  birth  with  the  respira- 
tion of  the  lungs.  Connected  with  this  is  another 
great  discovery  which  can  hardly  be  said  to 
have  transpired  beyond  the  circle  who  are  ac- 
quainted with  his  works,  even  to  tlie  present 
moment.  We  allude  to  the  universal  motion 
generated  by  the  lungs  and  distributed  to  the 
whole  animal  machine.  '  It  would  seem  at 
first  sigiit,  as  if  the  effect  of  respiration  did 
not  extend  far  beyond  the  thorax  ;  but  if  we 
contemplate   the   several  varieties  of  respira- 


tion, and  reduce  them  to  one  common  or  gen- 
eral result,  we  shall  perceive,  that  if  the 
respiration  does  not  always  actually  extend 
beyond  the  thorax,  still  it  is  in  the  effort  to  do 
so,  or  to  be  in  action  every  where.'  (367.) 
This  action  is  shown  to  extend  even  to  the 
smallest  blood  vessels,  and  to  the  nerves,  in 
which  it  promotes  the  circulation  of  the  fluids 
by  an  external  action,  which  coincides  with 
the  internal  action  of  the  cerebellum  through 
the  same  fibres.  This  law,  indeed,  is  a  part 
of  the  general  concordance  between  the  anima- 
tion of  the  brains  and  respiration,r  and  is  a 
beautiful  provision  for  insuring  muscular 
action.  .  For,  '  if  the  circle  of  the  red  blood 
were  performed  in  the  arteries  at  the  same 
intervals  as  the  circle  of  the  nervous  fluid  in 
the  nerves,  I  scarcely  know,'  Swedenborg  ob- 
serves, '  whether  any  muscle  in  the  body,  with 
the  exception  of  that  of  the  heart  and  arteries 
(which  are  stimulated  to  action  solely  by  the  in- 
fluent blood),  would  suffer  itself  to  be  excited  to 
act ;  for  in  pro[)ortion  as  the  nerve  acted,  the 
blood  would  react,  when  nevertheless,  in  order  to 
produce  any  alternate  motion,  action  and  re- 
action must  be  so  ordei-ed  that  one  may  alter- 
nately overcome  the  other.'  (P.  II.,  c.  i.  §  9.) 
To  sum  up  the  whole,  the  leading  principles  es- 
tablished by  Swedenborg  on  this  curious  and 
important  subject  are  these.  1.  The  anima- 
tion of  tlie  brains  is  the  universal  motion  of 
the  whole  body,  and  of  all  the  nervous  fibres, 
which,  during  animation  are  provided  with 
their  spirit  or  fluid.  2.  The  intercostal  nerve 
and  the  par  vagum  are  kept  in  this  animatory 
or  universal  motion,  and  the  latter  reduces  the 
subaltern  motions  of  the  body  to  it.  3.  The 
lungs,  as  already  observed,  are  in  the  same 
motion.  4.  By  means  of  the  lungs,  and 
through  the  mediation  of  the  pericardium, 
the  heart  is  also  associated  in  this  regimen,  so 
that  it  never  loses  its  vital  spirit  on  the  one 
hand,  or  its  state  of  perfect  liberty  on  the 
other.  (551-2).  We  close  the  work  here, 
not  because  we  have  alluded  to  all  its  dis- 
closures in  physiology,  but  because  it  is  im- 
possible to  do  so  within  the  limits  to  which 
we  have  confined  ourselves ;  and  we  have 
dwelt  upon  it  at  sufficient  length  to  establish 
its  claims  to  respectful  and  earnest  atten- 
tion." * 

Posthiunous  Tracts. 
125.  Connected  with  the  same  period  of  our 
author's  life  as  the  Economy,  are  the  Posthu- 
mous Tracts,  which  are,  for  the  most  part, 
condensed  statements  of  the  subjects  and  ar- 
guments of  the  larger  works,  to  the  study  of 
which  they  furnish  good  introductions.  They 
are  on  the  following  subjects:  1.  The  Way  to 
a  Knoivledge  of  the  Soul ;  2.  the  Red  Blood ; 
3.  the  Animal  Spirit  ;  4.  Sensation,  or  PaS' 
sion  of  the  Body ;  5.  the  Origin  and  Propa- 
gation of  the  Sold;    6.  Action;  7.  Fragment 

*  The  price  of  this  Work  is  now  $7.50. 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


on  the  Harmony  Subsisting  between  the  Soul 
and  the  Body  ;  8.  Faith  and  Good  Works.  The 
first  one  again  proclaims  the  absence  of  meta- 
physical modes  and  investigations  from  the 
mind  of  the  author  ;  for  he  says,  psychology 
is  to  be  pursued  by  gaining  a  j)revious  knowl- 
edge of  the  whole  of  the  sciences,  including 
the  experience  of  the  mental,  or  of  the  bodily 
senses  ;  and  proximately  by  anatomy  ;  because 
"  it  is  impossible  to  know  the  inner  action  of 
the  mind,  without  examining  the  face  of  the 
mind ;  i.  e.,  without  investigating  its  brains 
and  marrows ;  and  the  soul  is  nowhere  to 
be  found  but  in  her  own  kingdom."  Then,  on 
the  basis  of  the  science,  by  a  higlicr  and  high- 
er generalization,  must  be  reared  our  unitary 
science,  a  Mathematical  Doctrine  of  Univer- 
sal, which  science  is  the  philosophy  of  the 
soul.  Other  roads,  which  do  not  pass  through 
acquired  knowledge  on  either  side,  —  knowl- 
edge referable,  whether  immediately  or  ulti- 
mately, to  ert'ects  and  the  senses,  —  lead  only 
to  increased  ignorance  of  the  subject ;  espe- 
cially so,  the  pretended  investigation  of  con- 
sciousness;  a  thing  which  Swedenborg  quite 
left  out,  as  a  means  of  edification  :  for  what  is 
man's  intellect,  other  than  the  understanding 
of  Nature's  Revelation,  and  Society  ?  When 
he  understands  these,  or  in  proportion  as  he 
understands  them,  his  own  faculty  will  be 
worth  being  conscious  of  —  worth  investigat- 
ing as  a  distinct  object ;  but  originally,  there 
is  nothing  in  it,  either  to  digest,  classify,  or 
account  for.  Vacancy,  i.  e.,  raetaphysic  con- 
sciousness, involves  no  series,  and  wants  no 
theory  :  it  is  puerile,  nay  cruel,  publicly  to 
invite  analytic  attention. 

126.  In  the  work  above  alluded  to,  on  the 
Red  Blood,  there  is  a  mention  made  of  the 
vitality  of  the  blood,  which  again  shows  ho\v 
far  in  advance  of  the  times  our  author  stood 
in  this  respect.  '•  It  is  said  in  the  Bible, 
'  But  the  flesh  with  the  life  thereof,  which  is  the 
blood  thereof,  shall  ye  not  eat.'  (Gen.  ix.  4). 
And  the  opinion  that  the  blood  was  a  living 
substance  has  existed  from  the  remotest  an- 
tiquity. Harvey,  the  celebrated  discoverer 
of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  held  this 
opinion  very  strongly,  and  it  has  been  adopt- 
ed by  some  other  learned  men  at  different 
times,  US  may  be  seen  in  the  works  of  Good, 
Carpenter,  Elliotson,  and  others  on  Medicine 
or  Physiology.  But  it  was  never,  —  at  least 
in  modern  times,  —  generally  received,  and 
was  held  by  all  who  maintained  it,  only  hypo- 
thetically,  and  as  a  supposition  of  greater  or  less 
probability-  From  this  we  must,  however, 
except  Swedenborg.  In  his  ])hilosophical 
works,  written  more  than  one  hundred  years 
ago,  he  distinctly  asserts  the  vitality  of  the 
blood,  not  only  as  a  truth,  but  as  a  fundament- 
al truth  of  all  sound  ph}siology.  The  Swe- 
denborg Society  of  London  have  just  published 
a  thin  volume  of  his  '  Opuscula,'  or  little 
works,  in  the  orignal  Latin,  from  his  manu- 
scripts in  the  library  of  the  Royal  Academy 


of  Stockholm.  One  of  these  little  works  is 
'  De  Sanguine  Rubro'  —  'Of  the  Red  Blood.' 
We  do  not  propose  to  give  an  account  of  his 
views  on  this  subject ;  for  they  are  so  exceed- 
ly  condensed  in  this  small  treatise,  that  a  fur- 
ther abridgment  would  be  unintelligible.  It 
is  enough  to  say,  that  he  declares  the  blood  to 
be  more  than  merely  living  matter ;  it  stands, 
as  it  were,  half  way  between  spirit  and  mat- 
ter, partaking  of  the ,  qualities  of  both  ;  it  is 
as  if  the  point  of  contact  between  the  soul 
and  the  body ;  and  from  it,  or  rather  through 
it,  the  body  derives  its  life.  Thus  the  head- 
ing of  the  eleventh  chapter  of  this  treatise  is, 
•  That  the  globule  of  the  red  blood  contains  in 
itself  purer  blood  and  the  animal  spirit,  and 
that  the  purest  essence  and  soul  of  the  body 
is  here  ;  so  that  the  red  blood  is  a  spirituous 
and  animated  humor '  (humor  spirituosus  et 
animatus).  The  heading  of  the  next  chapter 
is,  '  That  the  red  blood  partakes  almost  equal- 
ly of  soul  and  body,  and  that  it  may  be  called 
as  well  spiritual  as  material.' 

127.  "Now  it  is  an  interesting  circumstance, 
that  while  this  long-neglected  work  was  pass- 
ing tlirongh  the  press,  science  has  at  last,  and 
by  accident,  discovered  the  vitality  of  the 
blood,  and  placed  this  fact  upon  a  firm  basis. 
The  number  of  Silliman's  Journal,  just  pub- 
lished, contains,  on  page  108,  under  the  head 
of  '  Researches  on  blood,'  some  expevimenta 
of  the  celebrated  chemist,  M.  Dumas,  pub- 
lished by  him  in  June  last.  After  some  ac- 
count of  his  experiments  and  their  results,  the 
statement  goes  on  thus  :  in  attempting  to  over- 
come this  difficulty,  '  M.  Dumas  discovered 
the  remarkable  property  of  the  blood  globules, 
that  as  long  as  they  were  in  contact  with  the 
air  or  aerated  water,  in  short,  as  long  as  they 
were  in  the  arterial  condition,  the  saline  solu- 
tion containing  them  passed  colorless  through 
the  filter,  and  left  them  upon  it:  on  the  con- 
trary, as  soon  as  the  globules  have  assumed 
the  violet  tint  of  venous  blood,  the  liquid 
passes  colored.'  After  detailing  certain  experi- 
ments then  tried  by  Dumas  in  consequence 
of  this  discovery,  the  following  statement  is 
made  :  —  ^TIius  the  globules  of  the  blood  seem 
to  possess  vitality,  as  they  can  resist  the  solvent 
action  of  sidphate  of  soda  as  long  as  their  life 
continues,  but  yield  to  this  action  readily  when, 
they  have  fallen  into  asphyxia  from  pri  vation  of 
air.'  "  —  Hew  Jerusalem  Magazine,  Feb.,  1847. 

128.  The  Fragment  on  the  Soul  is  mainly 
a  criticism  on  the  Preestablished  Harmony  of 
Leibnitz  ;  on  principles,  however,  which  fausft 
it  to  apply  to  the  whole  of  modern  philosophy. 
The  author  arraigns  Leibnitz,  and,  by  impli- 
cation, the  Philosophers,  for  aiming  to  convert 
common,  into  systematic  ignorance,  or  to  make 
emptiness  the  grand  organ  of  the  spiritual: 
for  philosophy  takes  a  number  of  dates,  by  no 
means  peculiar  to  itself,  but  which  it  draws  from 
common  experience,  such  as  the  fact,  that  things, 
sensations,  imaginations,  perceptions,  and  the 
like,  exist;  p.nd,  v,-ithout  inanirir.g  ^I'hat  thcv 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


35 


are,  and  tliereaftci*,  wlial  tlicir  causes  arc,  it 
revolves  incessantly  round  the  already  plain 
fact  of"  their  bare  existence,  castinj;  it  into  a 
new  jargon,  looking  idly  at  its  unii'orm  surface 
on  every  side,  and  ending,  for  the  most  part, 
not  by  realizing  any  thing,  but  by  (juestioning 
the  reality  of"  even  that  mean  object  of"  thought. 
Such  philosophy,  therefore,  consists  of  a  few 
of  the  poorest  generalities  of  common  sense, 
spoiled  by  interpolation  with  various  formulas 
of  ignorance.  Now  Swedenborg  first  brushes 
away  the  irresolvable  terms  of  the  current 
philosophies,  and  leaves  behind  the  small  nu- 
cleus to  its  rightful  place  under  common  sense, 
or  the  sciences,  from  which  it  was  stolen  at 
the  beginning,  only  to  be  modified  for  the 
worse.  Of  the  bare  existence  of  thitigs,  the 
clown  is  be  Her  aware  than  the  metaphysician, 
because  he  has  not  made  it  his  business  to 
question  them :  to  him,  therefore,  the  true 
philosopher  would  rather  apjjcal  on  gross 
questions  of  fact,   than  to  the  other. 

"  He  knows  what's  what ;  and  that's  as  high 
As  metaphysic  wit  can  fly." 

But  on  the  question  of  Cause  and  Reason, 
there  is  no  light  to  be  gained  from  either ;  nor 
is  there  any  difference  between  the  two,  save 
the  difference  between  ignorance,  culpable  and 
innocent,  conscious  and  unconscious,  personal 
and  accidental.  The  upshot  hitherto  has 
been,  that  what  is  true  in  philosophy  is  not 
new ;  but  existed  as  well,  and  better,  before 
philosophy  was  born  ;  also  exists  better  at  this 
moment  in  the  common  world,  where  philoso- 
phy is  unknown.  And  the  conclusion  is,  that 
in  regard  to  the  affections,  metaphv'sics,  after 
a  two  thousand  years'  opportunity  given,  has 
done  nothing  more,  than  obstruct  and  regurgi- 
tate the  current  of  the  lifeblood  of  humanity  ; 
and  in  regard  to  the  underslanding,  nothing 
more  than  deepen  our  initial  ignorance  of  all 
things,  by  actuating  it  into  pernicious  falsity. 

129.  A  Hieroglypliical  Key  to  Natural  and 
Spiritual  Mysteries,  by  way  of  Representatives 
and  Correspondences  —  is  a  small  work,  which 
belongs  to  the  same  series  as  the  Economy ; 
it  is  mentioned  in  the  Third  Part  of  that  work 
as  the  Part  on  Correspondences.  This  Tract 
is  an  attempt  to  eliminate  a  natural  doctrine 
of  correspondences,  and  to  show  its  application 
by  examples ;  and  although  it  may  appear  little 
successful,  in  comparison  with  the  plenitude 
of  bodily  truth  on  the  same  subject,  in  the 
author's  theological  works,  yet,  it  should  be 
observed,  that  the  aim  in  the  two  cases  is 
somewhat  difi'erent,  and  that  the  truth  of  one 
series  does  not  exclude  tliat  of  the  other  ; 
analogies  of  nature  to  nature,  being  perfectly 
compatible  with  the  more  vital  or  concrete 
analogies  between  the  spiritual  world  and  the 
natural. 

The  Animal  Kingdom. 

130.  In  1744  and  1745,  at  the  ages  of  56 
and  57,  he  pubUshed  another  work  —  "The 


Animal  Kincdom,  considered  Anatomically, 
P/tysioluf/ic(dly,  iuu\  P/iilosop/tiratly :"  that  is, 
at  first  in  its  dead  truths;  secondly,  in  its 
relations  with  the  physical  universe,  which 
sways  it  with  motion,  as  the  herald  of  vitality  ; 
and  thii'dly,  as  possessing  our  common  sense, 
in  the  lowest  degree  :  the  first  volume  treats 
of  the  Viscera  of  the  Abdomen ;  the  second, 
of  the  Viscera  of  the  Thorax,  or  Chest ;  and 
the  third,  of  the  Organs  of  Sense ;  whrch  has 
not  yet  been  translated.  The  first  and  second 
make  two  large  octavo  volumes,  which  sell  at 
$7.50.  The  new  doctrines  and  the  general 
method  of  the  Economy  of  the  Animal  King- 
dom, are  pursued  in  this  work  ;  but  they  are 
pressed  to  results  far  exceeding  those  of  the 
former.  The  author  says  in  his  Preface,  — 
"  Not  very  long  since  I  published  the  Economy 
of  the  Animal  Kingdom,  and  before  traversing 
the  whole  field  in  detail,  I  made  a  rapid  passage 
to  the  Soul,  and  put  forth  a  prodromus  respect- 
ing it:  but,  on  considering  the  matter  more 
deeply,  I  found  that  I  had  directed  my  course 
thither  both  too  hastily  and  too  fast :  after  ex- 
ploring the  blood  only,  and  its  particular  organs, 
I  took  the  step,  impelled  by  an  ardent  desire 
for  knowledge.  But  as  the  Soul  acts  in  the 
supreme  and  innermost  things,  and  does  not 
come  forth,  until  all  her  swathings  have  been 
successfully  unfolded,  I  am  therefore  deter- 
mined to  allow  myself  no  respite  until  I  have 
run  through  the  whole  field,  to  the  very  goal, 
until  I  have  traversed  the  universal  animal 
kingdom,  to  the  Soul.  Thus,  I  hope,  that  by 
bending  my  course  inwards,  continually,  I 
shall  open  all  the  doors  that  lead  to  her,  and 
at  length,  by  the  Divine  permission,  contem- 
plate the  Soul  Herself" 

131.  The  plan  of  this  great  undertaking  is 
thus  alluded  to  in  the  Prologue  :  — 

"  I  intend  to  examine,"  he  says,  "  physically 
and  philosophically,  the  whole  Anatomy  of  the 
body ;  of  all  its  Viscera,  Abdominal  and  Thoracic  ; 
of  the  Genital  Members  of  both  sexes;  nin]  of  the 
Organs  of  the  five  senses.     Likewisi% 

"The  Anatomy  of  all  parts  of  tlie  Cerebrum, 
Cerebellum,  Medulla  Oblongata,  and  Medulla  Spi- 
nalis. 

"  Afterwards,  the  cortical  substance  of  the  two 
brains,  and  their  medullary  fibre ;  also  the  ner\'- 
ous  fibre  of  the  body,  and  the  muscular  fibre ;  and 
the  causes  of  the  forces  and  motion  of  tiie  whole 
organism  ;  Diseases,  moreover ;  those  of  the  head 
particularly,  or  which  proceed  by  defiuxion  from 
the  Cerebrum. 

"  I  propose  afterwards  to  give  an  introduction  to 
Rational  Psychology,  consisting  of  certain  new  doc- 
trines, through  the  assistance  of  which  we  may  be 
conducted,  from  the  natural  organism  of  the  Body 
to  a  knowledge  of  the  Soul,  which  is  Immaterial : 
these  are,  the  Doctrine  of  Forms:  the  Doctrine  of 
Order  and  Degrees :  also,  the  Doctrine  of  Series 
and  Society  :  the  Doctrine  of  Influx :  tiie  Doctrine 
of  Correpondence  and  Representation :  lastly,  the 
Doctrine  of  Modification. 

"  From  these  Doctrines  I  come  to  the  Rational 
Psychology  itself;  wiiich  will  comprise  the  sub- 
jects of  action  ;  of  external  and  internal  sense  ;  of 


36 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


imagination  and  memory  :  also  of  the  affections  of 
the  animus.  Of  the  intellect,  that  is,  of  tIiou(];ht 
and  of  the  will ;  and  of  tlie  affections  of  the  ration- 
al mind  :  also,  of  instinct. 

"  Lastly,  of  the  Soul ;  and  of  its  state  in  the 
Body,  its  intercourse,  affection,  and  immortality  ; 
and  of  its  state  when  the  body  dies.  The  work  to 
conclude  with  a  Concordance  of  Systems." 

132.  This  design,  be  it  observed,  was  not 
laid  out  in  nuhibus  and  built  up  there  like  the 
magnificent  2>hilosopliy  of  Coleridge,  but,  for 
the  most  part,  was  actually  realized  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years.  The  first  part  of  the 
work,  treating  of  the  Abdominal  Viscera ;  the 
second  part,  treating  of  the  Thoracic  Viscera ; 
and  the  third  part,  treating  of  the  skin,  the 
senses  of  touch  and  taste,  and  organic  forms 
generally,  —  by  way  of  introduction  to  the  su- 
perior region, —  were  published  in  1744  and 
1745.  Many  of  the  remaining  subjects  were 
also  prepared  for  the  press,  and,  the  manu- 
scripts having  been  carefully  preserved,  are 
now  in  the  course  of  publication.  The  cir- 
cumstance which  occasioned  the  author  to 
abandon  these  labors,  was  the  opening  of  his 
spiritual  sight,  of  which  we  shall  speak  in  the 
next  chapter. 

133.  From  the  above  summary  of  the  plan 
of  Swedenborg's  labors,  it  is  easy  to  see  the 
goal  towards  which  the  great  philosopher  was 
tending. 

"  When  my  task  is  accomplished,"  he  says,  "  I 
am  then  admitted  by  common  consent  to  the  soul, 
who  sitting  like  a  queen  in  her  throne  of  state,  the 
body,  dispenses  laws,  and  governs  all  things  by 
her  good  pleasure,  but  yet  by  order  and  by  truth. 
This  will  be  the  crown  of  my  toils,  when  I  shall 
have  completed  my  course  in  this  most  spacious 
.arena.  But  in  olden  time,  before  any  racer  could 
merit  the  crown,  he  was  commanded  to  run  seven 
times  round  the  goal,  which  also  I  have  deter- 
:  mined  here  to  do." 

134.  Those  who  are  skilled  in  anatomy  and 
have  read  his  (Economia  Regni  Animcdis, 
state,  that  Swedenborg  was  familiar  with  many 
truths  in  anatomy,  which  were  unknown  to 
other  learned  men  of  his  day.  A  passage  of 
communication  between  the  right  and  left,  or 
two  lateral  ventricles  of  the  cerebrum,  was 
thought  to  have  been  first  discovered  by  a 
celebrated  anatomist  of  Edinburgh.  But  this 
is  a  mistake. 

The  first  discovery  and  description  of  this 
passage  was  claimed  by  the  celebrated  anato- 
mist, Dr.  Alexander  Monro,  of  Edinburgh,  and 
has  since  been  conceded  to  him  by  succeeding 
anatomists  :  hence  it  goes  by  the  denomination 
of  the  Foramen  of  Monro.  Dr.  Monro  read  a 
paper  before  the  Philosophical  Society  of 
Edinburgh,  on  this  subject,  December  13th, 
1764;  but  in  his  work  entitled,  '  Observations 
on  the  Structure  and  Functions  of  the  Nervous 
System,'  he  says  that  he  demonstrated  this  Fo- 
ramen to  his  pupils  so  early  as  the  year  1753. 

He  allows  that  a  communication  was  known 
«.nd  asserted  to  exist  between  those  ventricles 


and  the  third,  long  prior  to  his  time ;  but  he 
shows  that  it  was  never  delineated  after  such  a 
manner,  nor  in  any  way  that  could  conveys  a 
precise  idea  respecting  it ;  much  less  was  im- 
plied the  existence  of  the  Foramen  he  describes. 

The  channel  of  communication  seemed  to 
be  referred,  chiefly,  to  the  posterior  part  of 
the  lateral  ventricles,  whilst  the  Foramen  of 
Monro,  is  situated  at  their  anterior  part. 

Now  in  the  Regnum  Animale,  p.  207,  note 
(r)  the  following  striking  observation  occurs  : 
•'  The  communicating  Foramina  in  the  Cere- 
brum are  called  Anus  and  Vulva,  besides  the 
passage  or  emissary  canal  of  the  lymph  ;  by 
these  the  lateral  ventricles  communicate  with 
each  other,  and  with  the  third  ventricle." 

This  work  was  printed  in  the  year  1714—15  ; 
but  written,  as  we  have  reason  to  think,  two 
or  three  years  before  its  publication  :  hence 
X\\Q  foramen  here  spoken  of  must  have  been 
described  by  Swedenborg  from  ten  to  twelve 
years  prior  to  the  earliest  notice  taken  of  it  by 
Dr.  Monro. 

135.  We  confess,  however,  to  the  justice 
of  a  remark  by  Wilkinson  on  this  subject. 
'•  Swedenborg  is  not  to  be  resorted  to  as  an 
authority  for  anatomical  facts.  It  is  said,  in- 
deed, that  he  has  made  various  discoveries  in 
anatomy,  and  the  canal  named  the  '  foramen 
of  Monro '  is  instanced  among  these.  Sup- 
posing that  it  were  so,  it  would  be  dishonoring 
Swedenborg  to  lay  any  stress  upon  a  circum- 
stance so  trivial.  Whoever  discovered  this  fo- 
ramen was  most  probably  led  to  it  by  the  lucky 
slip  of  a  pi-obe.  But  other  claims  are  made 
for  our  author  by  liis  injudicious  friends.  It 
is  said  that  he  anticipated  some  of  the  most 
valuable  novelties  of  more  recent  date,  such  as 
the  phrenological  doctrine  of  the  great  Gall, 
and  the  newly-practised  art  of  animal  mag- 
netism. This  is  not  quite  fair :  let  every 
benefactor  to  mankind  have  his  own  honora- 
ble wreath,  nor  let  one  leaf  be  stolen  from  it 
for  the  already  laurelled  bi'ow  of  Swedenborg. 
True  it  is  that  all  these  things,  and  many 
more,  lie  in  ovo  in  the  universal  principles 
made  known  to  him,  but  they  were  not  devel- 
oped by  him  in  that  order  which  constitutes 
all  their  novelty,  and  in  fact  their  distinct 
existence." 

136.  Swedenborg's  object  was  not  to  aston- 
ish the  world  by  discoveries  in  natural  science  ; 
hence  no  pains  were  taken  to  give  circulation 
to  his  discoveries.  He  affirms  with  the  most 
characteristic  innocence,  that  "  he  knows  he 
shall  have  the  reader's  ear,  if  the  latter  be  only 
pei'suaded  that  his  end  is  God's  glory  and  the 
public  good,  and  not  his  own  gain  or  praise." 

137.  Again,  at  the  close  of  the  Principia^ 
he  says :  — 

"  In  writing  the  present  work,  I  have  had  no 
aim  at  the  applause  of  the  learned  world,  nor  at 
the  acquisition  of  a  name  or  popularity.  To  me  it 
is  a  matter  of  indifference  whether  I  win  the  favor- 
able opinion  of  every  one  or  of  no  one,  whether  I 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


37 


gain  much  or  no  coirimendutioii ;  such  things  are 
not  objects  of  regard  to  one  whosi^  mind  is  bent  on 
truth  and  true  pliilosophy ;  siiould  I,  therefore, 
gain  the  assent  or  approbation  of  others,  I  sliall 
receive  it  only  as  a  contirination  of  my  having  pur- 
sued the  truth.  I  have  no  wish  to  persuade  any 
one  to  lay  aside  the  principles  of  those  illustrious 
and  talented  authors  wlio  have  adorned  the  world, 
and  in  place  of  their  principles  to  adopt  mine :  for 
this  reason  it  is  that  I  have  not  made  mention  of 
so  much  as  of  one  of  them,  or  even  hinted  at 
his  name,  lest  I  should  injure  his  feelings,  or  seem 
to  impugn  his  sentiments,  or  to  derogate  from 
the  praise  which  others  bcs'tow  upon  him.  If  the 
principles  I  have  advanced  have  more  of  truth  in 
tliem  than  those  which  are  advocated  by  others  ; 
if  they  are  truly  philosophical  and  accordant  with 
the  phenomena  of  nature,  the  assent  of  the  public 
will  follow  in  due  time  of  its  own  accord  ;  and  in 
this  case,  should  I  fail  to  gain  the  assent  of  those 
whose  minds,  being  prepossessed  by  other  princi- 
ples, can  no  longer  exercise  an  impartial  judgment, 
still  I  shall  have  those  with  me  who  are  able  to 
distinguish  the  true  from  the  untrue,  if  not  in  the 
present,  at  least  in  some  future  age.  Truth  is 
unique,  and  will  speak  for  itself."  , 

138.  Again,  he  observes  in  the  Economy: 
"  Of  what  consequence  is  it  to  nie  that  I  should 
persuade  any  one  to  embrace  my  opinions  ? 
Let  his  own  reason  persuade  him.  I  do  not 
undertake  this  work  for  the  sake  of  honor  or 
emolument ;  both  of  which  I  shun  rather  than 
seek,  because  they  disquiet  the  mind,  and  be- 
cause I  am  content  with  ray  lot :  but  for  the 
sake  of  the  truth,  which  alone  is  immortal, 
and  has  its  portion  in  the  most  perfect  order 
of  nature ;  hence  in  the  series  of  the  ends  of 
the  universe  from  the  first  to  the  last,  or  to 
the  glory  of  God ;  which  ends  he  promotes  : 
thus  I  surely  know  who  it  is  that  must  reward 
me."  Of  his  sincerity  in  these  declarations, 
the  repose  which  pervades  his  books,  and  the 
hearty  pursuit  of  his  subject  at  all  times,  bear 
incontestable  witness. 

139.  The  absence  of  his  laurels  never 
troubled  him,  he  was  not  afraid  of  pillage  or 
plagiarism,  there  was  none  of  the  fire  of  com- 
petition in  him,  he  was  never  soured  by  neg- 
lect, or  disheartened  by  want  of  sympathy. 
It  is,  however,  remarkable  how  entirely  the 
foregoing  works  were  unknown  even  to  those 
who  knew  him  best  personally.  His  intimate 
friend  Count  Hopken  says,  that  "  he  made 
surprising  discoveries  in  anatomy,  which  are 
recorded  somewhere  in  certain  literary  transac- 
tions," evidently  in  complete  ignorance  of  the 
great  works  that  he  had  published,  and  more- 
over ill  informed  upon  the  subject  of  the 
"  Transactions."  And  yet  Swedenborg  was 
not  mistaken  in  his  estimate  of  his  own 
powers,  or  in  the  belief  that  posterity  had 
work  and  interest  in  store  in  writings  that, 
at  the  time,  were  utterly  neglected.  The  his- 
tory of  literature  is  eloquent  upon  the  fate 
of  those  who  were  before  their  age,  and  that 
fate  was  never  more  decisive  for  any  man,  or 
more  cheerfully  acquiesced  in  by  any,  than 
Swedenborg. 


140.  With  this  admirable  spirit,  and  with 
talents  only  efjualled  by  their  modesty  and  un- 
selfishness, our  author  produced,  in  his  fifty- 
fifth  and  fift}-seventh  years,  the  "  Animal 
Kingdom."  There  is  in  it,  the  clearness  of  the 
faultless  logician  ;  the  utmost  severity  of  the 
inductive  reasoner ;  the  order  of  the  consum- 
mate philosophical  architect ;  the  beauty,  fi-ee- 
dom,  and  universal  cordiality  of  the"  mighty 
poet ;  the  strength  of  a  giant,  and  the  playful- 
ness of  a  child.  Never  was  the  path  of 
science  so  aspiring,  or  strewn  with  such  lovely 
and  legitimate  fiowers,  as  in  these  two  as- 
tounding volumes.  But  praise  is  a  neediest 
tribute  of  their  goodness;  they  point  only  to 
applications  and  works,  and  beseech  us,  not  to 
stand  long  in  the  stupefaction  of  amazement, 
but  to  gather  up  our  energies,  and  summon 
our  understanding,  for  whatever  the  arts  and 
sciences  have  yet  to  contribute  to  the  true  ad- 
vancement of  our  race.  Those  only  follow 
their  spirit,  who  are  actively  endeavoring  to 
extend  their  principles  in  new  fields,  unex- 
plored even  by  the   renowned  author  himself. 

141.  The  doctrines  made  use  of  by  Swe- 
denborg in  the  "  Animal  Kingdom,"  are  the 
Doctrines  of  Forms,  of  Order  and  Degrees, 
of  Series  and  Society,  of  Influx,  of  Corre- 
spondence and  Representation,  and  of  Modifi- 
cation. These  doctrines  themselves  are  truths 
arrived  at  by  analysis,  proceeding  on  the  basis 
of  general  experience ;  in  short,  they  are  so 
many  formulas  resulting  from  the  evolution 
of  the  sciences.  They  are  perpetually  illus- 
trated and  elucidated  throughout  the  "  Animal 
Kingdom,"  but  never  stated  by  Swedenborg 
in  the  form  of  pure  science,  perhaps  because 
it  would  have  been  contrary  to  the  analytic 
method  to  have  so  stated  them,  before  the 
reader  had  been  carried  up  through  the  legiti- 
mate stages,  beginning  from  experience,  or  the 
lowest  sphere.  Each  effect  is  put  through 
all  these  doctrines,  in  order  that  it  may  dis- 
close the  causes  that  enter  it  in  succession, 
that  it  may  refer  itself  to  its  roots  and  be 
raised  to  its  powers,  and  be  seen  in  connection, 
contiguity,  continuity,  and  analogy  with  all 
other  things  in  the  same  universe.* 

142.  One  of  the  most  important  discoveries 
in  the  •■'  Animal  Kingdom,"  is  that  the  lungs 
sujiply  the  body  and  all  its  parts  with  motion. 
This  is  a  discovery,  not  less  wonderful  in  its 
consequences,  than  in  its  simplicity  and  obvi- 
ous truth.  If  the  reader  can  once  succeed  in 
apprehending  it,  there  will  be  no  danger  of 
his  letting  it  go  again  even  among  the  peril- 
ous quicksands  of  modern  experience.  It  is 
one  of  those  truths  that  rest  upon  facts  within 
the  range  of  the  most  ordinary  observation, 
and  require  but  little  anatomical  investigation 
to  confirm  and  demonstrate  them.  It  is  visible 
in  its  ultimate  efi'ects  during  every  action  that 
we  perform  and  at  every  moment  of  our  lives. 


*  By  a  universe,  Swedeubor" 
series  as  referable  tu  \xs  uiiilies. 


appears  to  mean  any  complete 


38 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANtTEL   SWEDENBORG. 


Perhaps  there  is  nothing  in  the  history  of 
physical  science  that  is  more  illustrative  of 
the  native  ignorance  of  the  mind,  or  that  bet- 
ter shows  how  far  we  have  cle[)arted  from  the 
simplicity  of  nature,  than  the  manner  in  which 
this  grand  office  of  the  lungs  has  been  over- 
looked ;  particularly  when  coupled  with  the 
fact,  tliat  it  should  have  required  a  great  and 
peculiarly  instructed  genius,  by  an  elaborate 
process,  to  place  it  once  again  under  our  men- 
tal vision.  But  nature  is  simple  and  easy  ;  it 
is  man  that  is  difficult  and  perplexed.  Not 
only  in  the  lungs,  but  in  the  whole  body,  the 
primary  office  is  disregai'ded,  and  the  second- 
ary substituted  for  it.  It  has"  been  supposed 
that  the  lungs  inspire  simply  to  communicate 
certain  elements  of  the  air  to  the  blood  ;  and 
expire  for  no  other  end  than  to  throw  out  by 
means  of  the  returning  air  certain  impurities 
from  the  blood.  Under  this  view,  their  mo- 
tion is  only  of  use  for  other  things,  or  instru- 
mentally,  and  not  as  a  thing  in  itself,  or  prin- 
cipally. And  yet  it  is  not  confined  to  the 
sphere  in  which  these  secondary  offices  of  the 
lungs  are  performed,  but  pervades  the  abdo- 
men as  sensibly  as  the  chest,  and  according  to 
the  showing  of  the  experimentalists,  extends 
also  to  the  lieart,  the  spinal  marrow,  and  the 
head.  It  was  therefore  incumbent  on  the 
physiologist  to  show  what  its  function  was  in 
all  the  regions  where  it  was  present,  and  to 
declare  its  action  as  a  universal  cause,  as  well 
as  its  action  as  a  particular  cause.  Now  the 
motion  itself  which  the  lungs  originate  is  their 
grand  product  to  the  system  ;  the  inspiration 
and  expiration  of  the  air  are  but  one  part  of 
its  necessary  accompaniments,  being  performed 
in  the  chest  alone.  Granting  that  the  inspi- 
ration and  expiration  of  the  air  are  the  partic- 
ular use  of  this  motion  in  the  chest,  what  then 
is  the  use  of  the  rising  and  falling  which  the 
lungs  communicate  to  the  abdomen,  the  heart, 
the  spinal  marrow,  and  the  brain  ?  What  office, 
analogous  to  respiration,  does  the  motion  of 
these  parts  communicate  to  the  organs  ?  It 
manifestly  causes  them  all  to  respire,  or  to 
attract  the  various  materials  of  their  uses,  as 
the  kings  attract  the  air.  For  respiration  is 
predicable  of  the  whole  system  as  well  as  nu- 
trition :  otherwise  the  head  \\'ould  not  be  the 
head  of  the  chest,  nor  the  abdomen  the  abdo- 
men of  the  chest ;  but  the  human  body  would 
be  as  disconnected,  and  as  easily  dissipated, 
as  the  systems  that  have  been  formed  respect- 
ing it.  The  universal  use,  therefore,  of  tlie 
respiratory  motion  to  tlie  body,  is,  to  rouse 
every  organ  to  the  performance  of  its  func- 
tions by  an  external  tractive  force  exerted 
upon  its  common  membranes ;  and  by  causing 
the  gentle  expansion  of  the  whole  mass,  to 
enable  the  organ,  according  to  its  particular 
fabric,  situation,  and  connection,  to  respire  or 
attract  such  blood  or  iluid,  and  in  such  quan- 
tity, as  its  uses  and  wants  require,  and  only 
such.     Each  organ,  however,  expands  or  con- 


tracts differently,  according  to  the  predicates 
just  mentioned  ;  the  intestines,  for  instance, 
from  articulation  to  articulation,  to  and  fro  ; 
the  kidneys,  from  their  circumference  to  their 
sinuosity  or  hilus,  and  vice  versa,  the  neigh- 
borhood of  tlieir  pelvis  being  their  most  quiet 
station  and  centre  of  motion :  and  so  forth. 
In  a  word,  the  expansion  as  a  force  assumes 
the  whole  form  of  the  structure  of  each  organ. 
In  all  cases  the  motion  is  synchronous  in 
times  and  moments  with  the  respiration  of  the 
lungs.  The  fluids  in  the  organs  follow  the 
path  of  the  expansion  and  contraction,  and 
tend  to  the  centre  of  motion,  from  which  these 
motions  begin,  to  which  they  return,  and  in 
which  they  terminate.  The  lungs,  however, 
only  supply  the  external  moving  life  of  the 
body ;  but  were  it  not  for  them,  the  whole 
organism  would  simply  exist  in  potency,  or 
more  properly  speaking,  would  cease  to  be ; 
or  were  it  permeated  by  the  blood  of  the 
heart,  —  a  condition  which  can  by  no  means 
be  granted,  —  the  latter  would  rule  uncon- 
trolled in  all  the  members,  subjugate  their  in- 
dividualities, and  not  excite  them  to  exercise 
any  of  the  peculiar  forces  of  which  they  are 
the  forms.  In  a  word,  the  whole  man  would 
be  permanently  in  the  fetal  state,  forever  in- 
choate and  inelFective. 

143.  There  is  no  part  of  Swedenborg's  sys- 
tem which  is  better  worthy  of  attention  than 
the  doctrine  of  the  skin.  As  the  skin  is  the 
continent  and  ultimate  of  the  whole  system, 
so  all  the  forms,  forces  and  uses  of  the  interi- 
or parts  coexist  witliin  it.  ^loreover  as  it  is 
the  extreme  of  tlie  body,  and  the  contact  of 
extremes,  or  circulation,  is  a  perpetual  law  of 
nature,  so  from  tlni  ^^kin  a  return  is  made  to 
the  other  extreme,  namely,  to  the  cortical 
substances  of  tlie  brain.  Henc^  the  first 
function  of  the  skin  is,  "  to  serve  as  a  new 
source  of  fibres."  For  the  fibres  of  one  ex- 
treme, to  wit,  the  brain,  also  called  by  Swe- 
denborg  the  fibres  of  the  soul,  could  not  of 
themselves  complete  the  formation  of  the  body, 
but  could  only  supply  its  active  grounds  ;  and 
therefore  these  fibres  proceed  outwards  to  the 
skin,  which  is  the  most  general  sensorial  ex- 
panse of  the  brain,  and  there  generate  the 
papillie  ;  and  again  emerging  from  the  papilla), 
and  convoluted  into  a  minute  canal  or  pore, 
they  take  a  new  nature  and  name  from  their 
new  beginning,  and  become  the  corporeal  fibres, 
or  the  fibres  of  the  body,  which  proceed  from 
without  inwards  to  the  bi-ain,  and  unite  them- 
selves to  its  cortical  substances.  These  are 
the  passives  of  which  the  nervous  fibres  ai*e 
the  actives ;  the  veins  or  female  forces  of 
which  the  nervous  fibres  are  the  arteries  or 
males  ;  and  "  they  suck  in  the  purer  element- 
al food  from  the  air  and  etlier,  convey  it  to 
their  terminations,  and  expend  it  upon  the 
uses  of  life." 

144.  Besides   this,  tlie  skin  has  a  series  of 
other  functions  which  there   is  not  space  to 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


39 


dwell  upon  at  present.  Inasmuch  as  it  is  the 
moot  general  covering  of  the  body,  therefore 
it  conununieates  by  a  wonderful  continuity 
with  all  the  particular  coverings  of  the  viscera 
and  organs,  and  of  their  parts,  and  parts  of 
jjarts.  And  as  it  communicates  with  all  by 
continuity  of  structure,  so  it  also  communi- 
oites  by  continuity  of  function ;  the  whole 
body  being  therefore  one  grand  sensoriura  of 
die  sense  of  touch.  In  short,  the  animal  spirit 
is  the  most  universal  and  singular  essence  of 
the  l)ody  and  all  its  parts  ;  the  skin,  the  most 
general  and  particular  form  corresponding  to 
lliat  essence.  • 

145.  The  professional  reader  of  the  "Animal 
Kingdom "  will  not  fail  to  discover  that  the 
;uUhor  has  fallen  into  various  anatomical  errors 
of  minor  importance,  and  that  there  are  occa- 
ifionally  marks  of  haste  in  his  performance. 
This  may  be  conceded  without  in  any  degree 
<letiacting  from  the  character  of  the  work. 
'Jliese  errors  do  not  involve  matters  of  prin- 
ciple- The  course  which  Swedenborg  adopt- 
t,'d,  of  founding  his  theory  upon  general  expe- 
jit'uoe,  and  of  only  resorting  to  particular 
lacts  as  confirmations,  so  equilibrates  and 
icompeiisates  all  misstatements  of  the  kind, 
that  the}'  may  be  rejected  from  the  result  as 
unimportant.  To  dwell  upon  them  as  serious, 
and  still  more  to  make  the  merit  of  the  theory 
liinge  upon  them,  is  worthy  only  of  a  "minute 
j)hilosopher,"  who  has  some  low  rule  whereby 
to  judge  a  truth,  instead  of  the  law  of  use. 
*5uch  unhappily  was  the  rule  adopted  by  the 
reviewer  of  the  "  Animal  Kingdom  "  in  the 
*•  Acta  Eruditorum  Lipsieusia "  (1747,  pp. 
o07— 514) :  the  book  was  despised  by  this 
critic  because  Swedenborg  had  committed  an 
error  in  describing  the  muscles  of  the  tongue, 
and  because  he  had  cited  the  plates  of  Bidloo 
and  Verheyen,  which  lieister  and  Morgagni 
had  then  made  it  a  fashion  to  disparage  ;  and 
tor  other  equally  inconclusive  reasons.  All 
they  amounted  to  was,  that  Swedenborg  had 
not  accomplished  the  I'eviewer's  end,  however 
thoroughly  he  had  performed  his  own. 

14G.  Jjut  fortunately  such  criticisms  are  never 
decisive  ;  a  single  truth  can  outlivti  ten  thou- 
isand  of  them.  The  "  Animal  Kingdom  "  ap- 
peals to  the  world  at  this  time,  a  hundred 
years  since  the  publication  of  the  original,  as 
ii  new  production,  having  all  the  claims  of  an 
unjudged  book  upon  our  regards.  For  during 
that  hundred  years  not  a  single  writer  has  ap- 
peared in  the  leai'ned  world,  who  has  in  the 
slightest  degree  comprehended  its  design,  or 
mastered  its  principles  and  details.  —  Intro- 
ductory/ liemarks  to  the  Animal  Kingdom,  by 
J.  J-  Gr.  Wilkinson. 

147.  In  stating,  however,  any  one  point  as 
remaikabLe  in  such  a  genius,  we  are  in  danger 
of  having  it  understood  that  his  claims  in  this 
respect  can  be  enumerated  by  any  critic  or 
biographer.     On  the  contrary,  we  shoald  have 


but  a  few  lines  to  each  detail  of  his  excessive 
fruitfulness.  Sullice  it  to  say,  that  there  is  no 
inquirer  into  the  human  body,  either  for  the 
purposes  of  medical  or  general  intelligence, 
above  all,  there  is  no  philosophical  anatomist, 
who  has  done  justice  to  himself,  unless  he  has 
humbly  read  and  studied  —  not  turned  over 
and  conceitedly  dismissed  —  the  Economy  and 
Animal  Kingdom  of  Swedenborg.  These 
works  of  course  are  past  as  records  of  anatom- 
ical fact,  but  in  general  facts,  that  are  biggei 
than  anatomy,  they  have  not  been  excelled, 
and  none  but  a  mean  pride  of  science,  or  an 
inaptitude  for  high  reasons,  would  deter  the 
inquirer  from  the  light  he  may  here  acquire, 
in  spite  of  meeting  a  few  obsolete  notions,  or 
a  few  hundreds  of  incomplete  experiments. 

148.  In  this  connection  we  extract  from  the 
London  "  Forceps"  for  Nov.,  1844,  the  follow-  , 
ing  summary  view  of  the  "Animal  Kingdom." 

"  This  is  the  most  remarkable  theory  of  the  hu- 
man body  that  has  ever  fallen  into  our  hands  ;  ami 
by  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  too!  a  man  whom  we 
had  always  been  taught  to  regard  as  either  a  fool, 
a  madman,  or  an  impostor,  or  perhaps  an  undetiiia- 
ble  compound  of  all  the  three.  Wonders,  it  see:iis 
never  will  cease,  and  therefore  it  were  bctt.  r 
henceforth  to  look  out  for  them,  and  accept  thcui 
whenever  they  present  theniseives,  and  make  them 
into  ordinary  things  in  that  way.  For  thereby  we 
may  be  saved  from  making  wonderful  asses '  of 
ourselves  and  our  craft,  for  enlightened  posterity 
to  laugh  at. 

"  To  return  to  our  boolv,  we  can  honestly  assure 
our  readers  (which  is  more  than  it  would  be  safe 
to  do  in  all  cases),  that  we  have  carefully  re;id 
through  both  volumes  of  it,  bulky  though  they  be, 
and  have  gained  much  philosophical  insight  from 
it  into  the  chains  of  ends  and  causes  that  govern 
in  the  human  organism.  What  has  the  world 
been  doing  for  the  past  century,  to  let  this  great 
system  slumber  on  the  shelf,  and  to  run  after  a 
host  of  little  bluebottles  of  hypotheses  which  were 
never  framed  to  live  for  more  than  a  short  part  of 
a  single  season  ?  It  is  clear  that  it  yet  '  knows 
nothing  of  its  greatest  men.'  The  fact  is,  it  lias 
been  making  money,  or  trying  to  make  it,  and 
grubbing  after  worthless  reputation,  until  it  bus 
lost  its  eyesight  for  the  stars  of  heaven  and  the 
sun  that  is  sliming  above  it. 

"  Emanuel  Swedcnborg's  doctrine  is  altogether 
the  widest  thing  of  tiio  kind  which  medical  litera- 
ture affords,  and  cast  into  an  artistical  shape  of 
consummate  beauty.  Under  the  rich  drapery  of 
ornament  which  •diversifies  Ids  pages,  there  runs  a 
framework  of  Llie  truest  reasoning.  The  book  is 
a  perfect  mine  of  principles,  far  exceeding  in  in- 
tellectual wcaUli,  and  surpassing  in  elevation,  the 
finest  etforts  of  Lord  Bacon's  genius.  It  treats  of 
the  loftiest  subjects  witliout  abstruseness,  bring 
all  ultimately  referable  to  the  common  sense  of 
mankind.  Unlike  tlie  German  transcimdentalist*, 
this  gifted  Swede  luhils  both  tlie  recpiisites  of  tlie 
true  phdosoplicr;  he  is  one  '  to  wliom  the  lowest 
things  ascend,  and  tlic  highest  dcscemJ,  who  i^  thi; 
equal  and  kindly  broUier  of  all.'  Tli.'re  is  no 
triding  about  him,  but  he  sets  forth  his  opinions, 
irrespective  of  controversy,  with  a  plainms?  of 
affirmation  which  cannot  be  mist  iken ;  and  in  .sitcl. 
close  and  direct  terms,  that  to  <rive  a  full  idea  of 


io  write  a  volume  were  we  barely  to  devote  j  his  system  in  other  words  woulu  r-,qui;e  that  we 


40 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS   OF    EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


lesser  men  should  write  larger  volumes  than  his 
own. 

"  The  plan  of  the  work  is  this :  Swedenborg 
first  gives  extracts  from  the  greatest  anatomists 
of  his  own  and  former  times,  sucii  as  Malpighi, 
Leuwenhock,  Morgagni,  Swammerdam,  lleister, 
Winslow,  &c.,  &c.,  so  that  these  volumes  contain 
a  body  of  old  anatomy  (translated  now  into  close 
English)  such  as  cannot  be  met  with  in  this  shape 
elsewhere.  He  tlien  gives  his  own  unencumbered 
deductions  from  this  '  experience,'  under  the  head- 
ing '  analysis.'  Each  organ  of  the  thorax  and 
abdomen  in  this  way  has  a  twofold  chaptei  allot- 
ted to  its  consideration,  which  chapter  is  a  com- 
plete little  essay,  or  we  may  say,  epic,  upon  the 
subject.  The  philosophical  unity  of  the  work  is 
astonishing,  and  serves  to  unlock  the  most  abstruse 
organs,  sucli  as  the  spleen,  thymus  gland,  supra- 
renal capsules,  and  other  parts  upon  which  Swe- 
denborg  has  dilated  with  an  analytic  efficacy  winch 
the  moderns  have  not  even  approached  ;  and  of 
•which  the  ancients  afforded  scarcely  an  indication. 
Upon  these  more  mysterious  organs,  we  think  his 
views  most  suggestive  and  valuable,  and  worthy 
of  the  whole  attention  of  the  better  minds  of  the 
medical  profession.  Of  the  doctrine  of  series, 
"since  called  by  the  loss  appropriate  term,  '  homol- 
ogy,' he  has  afforded  the  most  singular  illustra- 
tions, not  confining  himself  to  the  law  of  series 
in  the  solids,  but  boldly  pushing  it  into  the  domain 
of  the  fluids,  and  this  with  an  energy  of  purpose, 
and  a  strength  of  conception  and  execution,  such 
as  is  rarely  shown  by  '  any  nine  men  in  these  de- 
generate days.'  We  opened  this  book  with  sur- 
prise, a  surprise  grounded  upon  the  name  and  fame 
of  the  author,  and  upon  the  daring  affirmative  stand 
which  he  takes  in  limine  ;  we  close  it  with  a  deep- 
laid  wonder,  and  with  an  anxious  wish  that  it  may 
not  appeal  in  vain  to  a  profession  which  may  gain 
so  much,  both  morally,  intellectually,  and  scien- 
tifically, from  the  priceless  truths  contained  it  its 
pages." 

149.  These  are  among  the  great  works  that 
revolutionize  our  consciousness,  and  engender 
new  wants,  and  a  new  mind,  in  the  human 
soul ;  and  yet,  it  is  surprising  how  little  the 
author  was  controversial,  or  directly  critical ; 
with  the  exception  of  his  Fragment  on  Leib- 
nitz, he  scarcely  wages  formal  battle  with  an- 
other writer  ;  neither  scolding  science  for  its 
servility,  nor  metaphysical  philosophy  for  its 
artful  obscurations,  he  supplies  elevated  truths 
on  the  stage  of  his  own  mind,  and  leaves  them 
to  gain  their  prevalence,  without  a  syllable 
of  literary  recommendation  :  a  safe  and  the 
only  course ;  for  these  principles  inhabit  a 
region,  where  they  have  no  opponents  ;  where 
old  falsities  are  clean  out  of  tlieir  senses,  and 
without  being  aware  of  the  consequences  of 
the  admission,  confess  to  seeing  nothing  at  all. 
But  the  medical  bearing  of  these  works,  and 
their  intimation  of  new  principles  and  practices 
to  the  healing  art,  render  them  of  great 
value  to  the  Profession  and  to  the  world. 
The  author  shows,  as  no  one  else  has  con- 
ceived to  do,  how  the  whole  corporeal  system 
is  a  manifold  organ  of  appmpriation,  exqui- 
sitely responsive,  in  its  several  parts,  to  the 
influences  of  the  circumambient  universe  ;  and 
therefore,  depending  on  cosmical  and  local  cir- 
CLimstances  for  a  vast  supply  of  causes- 


Miscellaneous  Works,      Their  Character  and 
Tendency. 

150.  Swedenborg,  however,  fulfilled  but  a 
portion  of  his  plan,  being  led  to  something 
better  than  the  direct  reconstruction  of  the 
sciences  ;  to  something,  from  which  that  event 
will  hereafter  issue  with  a  divine  certitude  of 
success  ;  but  still,  it  is  satisfactory  to  know, 
that  his  manuscripts  give  an  outline  of  his 
views  on  all  the  subjects  of  which  he  intended 
to  treat.  Thus,  we  have  a  continuation  of  the 
Chemical  Specimens ;  of  the  Animal  King- 
dom, two  treatises  On  the  Brain,  forming  to- 
gether 1900  pages;  a  treatise  on  Generation  ; 
two  treatises  on  the  Ear,  and  the  sense  of 
Hearing  ;  one  On  the  Human  Mind,  involv- 
ing the  Five  Senses,  and  the  various  faculties, 
both  concrete  and  abstract,  the  human  loves 
and  passions,  and  whatever  follows  therefrom  ; 
a  treatise  on  Common  Salt ;  a  tract  on  the 
rise  and  fall  of  Lake  Wenner,  with  a  sketch 
of  the  Cataracts  of  the  river  Gotha  Elf; 
also  several  others  on  a  variety  of  subjects, 
all  of  which  clearly  indicate  the  author's  re- 
searches and  corresponding  versatility  of  pow- 
ers ;  and  will  niak(>  about  30  volumes,  octavo. 

151.  The  treatise  on  Generation,  above  al- 
ludedlo,  has  receiitlr  been  translated  into  Eng- 
lish, by  J.  J.  G.  Wilkinson.  It  beai's  the  fol- 
lowing title  :  —  ••  The  Generative  Organs,  con- 
sidered Anatomicallv,  Physically,  and  Philo- 
sophically." It  is  in  two  Parts.  Part  L 
treats  of  The  Male  Generative  Organs ; 
Part  II.  treats  of  The  Female  Genjerative 
Organs.  ..._— -^ 

i«u~j!iJn  the  Advertisement  to  this  Work,  the 
Ti-anslator  says  :  —  "  The  work,  as  it  stands, 
is  a  worthy  integrant  part  of  that  extraordi- 
nary series  of  works,  which,  more  than  a  cen- 
tury ago,  appeared  in  Latin,  and  which,  with- 
in the  last  ten  years,  has  been  coming  forth 
in  the  English  tongue.  What  its  precise 
merits  may  be,  we  will  not  prejudge;  that  is  a 
question  which  belongs  to  the  future.  We 
see  in  it  great  intuitions  of  order,  with  a  most 
ingenious  application  to  details  :  much  that  is 
as  new  to  the  human  mind  now,  as  when  the 
manuscript  was  written.  We  see  in  it  also 
a  constant  amalgam  of  physics  and  meta- 
physics, like  what  there  is  in  the  hmnan  body 
itself;  but  which  we  do  not  know  where  to 
find  in  any  author  but  Swedenborg.  And 
moreover  we  recognize  in  it,  an  aflSnity  to 
Man,  an  addiction  to  central  truths  and  prin- 
ciples, which  is  too  absent  from  the  corre 
spending  works  of  this  age.  Yet  we  own  thaS 
it  is  worth  but  little  as  a  handbook  for  the 
kind  of  information  now  sought  in  the  medi- 
cal schools.  In  truth,  the  work  is  non-medi- 
cal :  it  is  one  of  those  productions,  which 
must  exist  more  and  more  in  all  departments, 
and  which  are  designed  to  promote  a  non- 
professional, public,  or  univei"sal  view  of  the 
matters  in  hand.  Science,  in  its  universals,  is 
no  tradesman,  and  works  not  for  the  improve- 
ment of  arv  culling;  but  solely  btoause  truth 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


41 


is  good.  Such  science  for  the  human  body 
has  been  cultivated  by  the  non-mcdicul  Swe- 
deaborg."i5^ 

4.5?:^.'^'^-      •       •       •       • 

■Ji,^J  For  the  rest,  the  present  treatise  shines 
for  us  with  the  clear,  mild  genius  of  our  Author. 
With  our  last  literary  accents  we  would  fuin 
claim  the  attention  of  the  new  men  of  this 
age,  to  what  there  is  in  Swedenborg's  scien- 
tilic  works,  accordant  with  their  own  necessities 
and  discoveries.  In  particular  we  suppose 
that  there  is  no  writer  before  or  since  who 
has  treated  as  he  has  done,  of  the  continuity 
of  the  body  on  the  one  hand  ;  or  of  the  per- 
meation and  penetration  of  vibrations  and 
living  influences  through  it,  on  the  other. 
Let  us  take  a  common  example.  A  man 
catches  cold ;  straightway  he  feels  stiffness 
and  pains  in  every  joint  of  his  body ;  his 
whole  head  is  sore ;  his  nose  runs  with  serous 
^defluxioji,  &C.,  &€.  Now,  strange  as  it  may 
appear,  the  present  science  does  not  j)resent 
any  physiological  knowledge  of  what  these 
pathological  states  may  be.  What  is  the  con- 
dition of  his  periosteum,  of  the  sheaths  of  all 
his  stiff  muscles,  and  of  his  creaking  joints  ? 
How  does  it  all  happen  ?  Neither  science 
nor  imagination  knows.  The  feelings  of  the 
patient  have  no  commerce  with  the  skill  of 
Llie  doctor.  This  demonstrates  at  any  rate 
that  the  science  which  lies  at  the  basis  of 
pathology  is  not  yet  opened.  Pains,  aches, 
swellings,  and  symptoms  generally, glide  along 
the  body  by  terribly  broad  bridges  of  struc- 
ture of  which  the  anatomist  wots  not.  Well 
then,  there  is  wanted  somebody  besides  this 
prim  anatomist,  to  unfold  the  case.  Our  Swe- 
denborg.  Licentiate  of  No  College,  is  one  of 
the  men  in  whose  works  we  have  found  a  be- 
ginning of  instruction  on  this  subject.  He 
has  wonderfully  indicated  to  us  many  of  the 
great  bridges  and  highways  of  vibrations  and 
influences,  and  in  so  doing  has  thronged  with 
living  states  and  forms  parts  which  were  pre- 
viously dispersed,  lying  in  sand  heaps  of  cell 
germs.  To  the  new  pathology,  which  chroni- 
cles the  passage  of  states  through  Man,  he  is 
as  yet  the  most  important  contributor  from 
the  physiological  side. 

153.  It  gives  us  pleasure  to  end  these  brief 
lines  by  recording  publicly  that  the  Royal  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences  of  Stockholm,  the  body  of 
which  Linnajus  and  Berzelius  were  ahunni,  has 
lately  paid  a  fitting  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
Swedenborg.  We  excerpt  the  following  from 
the  official  account  of  their  last  annual  festival. 

"  1852.     The  Academy  has  this  year  caused 
the  annual  medal  to  be  struck  to  the  memory  ! 
of  the  celebrated  Swedenborg.     It  represents  i 
Swedenborg's   image   on   the   obverse :    over 
it  his  name:  under  it  Nut.  1688,  Ben.  1772. 
On  the  reverse :  a  man  in  a  dress  reaching  to 
the  feet,  with  eyes  unbandaged,  standing   be-, 
fore  the   temple  of  Isis,  at   whose   base   the 
goddess  is  seen.     Above  it :  Tantoque  ex-  I 
6 


SULTAT  ALUMNO  ;   beneath  :  Miuo    naturje 

INVESTIGATOUI    SOCIO    QUOND.    Tt^STIMATISS. 
ACAD.     RKG.     SCIENT.      SVEC.      MDCCCLII." 

The  eulogium  on  Swedenborg  was  delivered  l)y 
the  Pr^ident  of  the  Academy,  General  Akrell. 
15-1.  All  these  works,  covering  the  whole 
field  of  Materiality,  are  so  many  undying 
proofs  of  Swedenborg's  universal  learning, 
and  of  his  ability  to  grasp  subjects  requiring  the 
deepest  reflection,  and  the  most  profound 
knowledge.  Nor  did  he  wish  to  shine  in 
borrowed  ])lumes,  passing  off  the  labors  of 
others  as  his  own,  dressed  up  in  a  new  form, 
and  decorated  with  some  new  turns  of  expres- 
sion. Indeed,  as  was  before  observed,  he  rarely 
took  up  the  ideas  of  others,  except  when  he 
was  collecting  facts,  but  always  followed  his 
own  ;  and  he  makes  numerous  remarks  and 
applications  which  are  nowhere  else  to  be 
found.  Nor  was  he  content  with  merely 
skimming  over  the  surface  of  things :  but 
applied  the  whole  force  of  his  mind  to  pene- 
trate the  most  hidden  things,  to  collect  to- 
gether the  scattered  links  of  the  great  chain 
of  universal  being,  and  to  trace  up  every  thing, 
in  the  most  perfect  order,  to  the  Great  First 
Cause.  Neither  did  he,  as  certain  other 
natural  philosophers  have  done,  who,  dazzled 
by  the  light  they  have  been  in  search  of  and 
found,  would,  if  it  were  possible,  eclipse  or 
extinguish  to  the  eyes  of  the  world,  the 
Only  Living  and  True  Light.  He  de- 
lighted, with  love  and  adoration,  to  look 
through  Nature,  to  Nature's  God:  and  he 
found  the  ladder  that  leads  from  earth  to 
heavep. 

Sf^'  "  No  man,"  he  says,  "  can  be  a  com- 
plete and  truly  learned  philosopher,  without 
the  utmost  devotion  to  the  Supreme  Being. 
True  philosophy  and  contempt  of  the  Deity, 
are  two  opposites."  Accordingly,  Sweden- 
borg took  full  advantage  of  the  religion  of  his 
time,  and  the  belief  in  a  personal  God  was 
with  him  the  fountain  of  sciences,  which 
alone  allowed  a  finite  man  to  discover  in  na- 
ture the  wisdom  that  an  infinite  man  had 
planted  there.  Nothing  is  more  plain  than 
that  only  in  so  far  as  man  is  the  image  of  God, 
and  can  think  like  God,  can  he  give  the  rea- 
son of  any  thing  that  God  has  made.  Not  to 
admit  then  a  personal  God  is  to  deny  the 
grounds  of  natural  knowledge,  to  make  it 
what  the  philosophers  call  subjective,  that  is 
to  say,  true  for  you,  but  not  God's  truth  or 
true  in  itself^ 

156.  It  becomes  now  a  question  of  peculiar 
interest  —  Did  Swedenborg,  in  the  course  he 
marked  out,  find  that  to  which  all  his  labors 
were  directed  ?  Did  he  find  the  soul  ?  No : 
but  he  found  what  was  much  better,  on  a 
higher  stage  of  observation,  as  will  be  seen 
hereafter.  By  the  course  thus  far  pursued, 
he  came  to  the  inner  parts  of  the  living  body, 
but  not  to  the  soul.  It  was  an  achievement 
to  dissect  the   body  alive  without  injuring  it. 


42 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


nay  with  its  own  concurrence  ;  to  disintegrate 
brain,  lungs,  heart,  and  vitals,  and  to  see  them 
as  individuals,  as  partial  men ;  so  to  endow 
them  with  tlie  whole  frame,  that  they  could 
subsist  to  the  mind  as  human  creatures ;  and 
this  Swedenborg  has  done  to  a  considerable 
extent :  but  to  see  the  soul,  or  the  spiritual 
body,  was  not  accorded  to  him  at  this  stage. 
The  doctrine  of  correspondence  might  have 
shown  it ;  but  then  before  correspondence 
works  there  must  be  two  experimental  terms, 
two  visible  things  ;  the  soul  must  be  already 
seen,  after  which,  correspondence  will  show 
its  fitness  with  the  body,  and  illustrate  each 
by  each.  In  a  word,  sight  or  experience  is 
tlie  basis  of  knowledge ;  the  invisible  is  the 
unknown,  and  no  doctrines  can  realize  it,  or 
honestly  bring  it  near  to  our  thoughts.  It 
rests  upon  Swedenborg's  confession,  not  less 
than  upon  his  quitting  the  before-mentioned 
track,  that  his  principles  so  far  did  not  and 
could  not  lead  him  to  an  acquaintance  with 
the  soul. 

But  if,  whilst  engaged  upon  an  impossible 
quest,  he  lost  himself  amon^  nervous  and 
spirituous  fluids  and  the  like  entities,  which 
are  most  real,  only  not  the  soul,  still  he  shed 
surprising  light  upon  the  plan  and  life  of  the 
human  body.  His  method  was  eminently  good 
for  this.  The  doctrines  he  worked  with,  the 
preliminaries  he  believed  in,  are  the  common 
sense  of  all  plans  and  organizations. 

Worship  and  Love  of  God. 
157.  We  are  now  brought  to  a  notice  of  the 
last  of  our  author's  natural  works,  published 
in  1745,  the  very  year  in  which  iiis  spiritu- 
al SIGHT  WAS  OPENED,  and  the  o7th  of  his 
age.  It  is  a  series  of  Philosophical  Essays 
ON  THE  Worship  and  Love  of  God  :  Part 
First,  treating  of  the  origin  of  the  Earth, 
on  the  state  of  Paradise  in  the  Vegetable  and 
Animal  Kingdoms,  and  on  the  Birth,  Infancy, 
and  Love  of  Adam,  or  the  First-horn  Man: 
Part  2d,  on  the  Marriage  of  the  First  born; 
and  on  the  Soul,  the  Intellectual  Mind,  the  state 
of  Integrity,  and  the  Image  of  God.  This 
work  may  be  regarded  as  an  attempted  bridge 
from  philosophy  to  theology ;  an  arch  thrown 
over  from  the  side  of  nature,  towards  the  un- 
seen shore  of  the  land  of  life.  As  it  is  a  kind 
of  link,  so  it  has  some  of  the  ambiguity  which 
attaches  to  transitional  things,  and  by  those 
who  judge  of  it  from  either  side,  may  be  mis- 
understood. Those  who  study  matter  and 
spirit  in  connection,  see  in  its  exuberant  lines, 
no  want  of  clear  truth,  but  simply  the  joy  and 
recreation  of  one  goal  attained ;  the  Harvest 
Home  of  a  scientific  cycle  ;  the  euthanasia  of 
a  noble  intellect,  peacefully  sinking  back  into 
its  own  spiritual  country  ;  the  Pentecost  thence 
of  new  tongues  as  of  fire,  in  which  every  man 
is  addressed  in  his  own  language,  not  of  words, 
but  of  things.  For  here  has  science  become 
art,  and  is  identified  with  nature  in  the  very 


middle  and  thicket  of  her  beauty  :  here,  the 
forgotten  lore  of  antiquity  begins  to  be  re- 
stored, and  principle  ratified  into  truths,  takes 
a  body  in  mythological  narrative,  the  first  cre- 
ation of  the  kind  since  the  dawn  of  the  scien- 
tific ages :  here  the  doctrine  of  Correspond- 
ences commences  to  reassert  its  sublime  pre- 
rogative, of  bearing  to  man  the  teeming  spirit 
of  heaven  in  the  cups  of  nature.  All  this  ac- 
counts for  the  singularity  of  the  work  ;  for 
its  standing,  in  a  manner  by  itself,  among  the 
author's  writings.  It  is  an  offering  up  of  both 
science  and  philosophy  on  the  altar  of  Religion. 
Whatever  of  admiration  one  has  felt  for  Swe- 
denborg's former  efforts,  only  increases  as  we 
enter  tlie  interior  of  this  august  natural  tem- 
ple. A  new  wealth  of  principles,  a  radiant, 
even  power,  such  as  peace  alone  can  commu- 
nicate, a  discourse  of  order,  persuasively  con- 
vincing, an  affecting  and  substantial  beauty 
more  deep  than  poetry,  a  luxuriance  of  orna- 
ment, instinct  with  the  life  of  the  subject ;  in- 
tellect, imagination,  fancy,  unitedly  awake  in 
a  lonely  vision  of  primeval  times  ;  wisdom, 
too,  making  all  things  human  :  such  is  an  im- 
perfect enumeration  of  the  qualities  which 
enter  into  this  ripe  fruit  of  the  native  genius 
of  Swedenborg.  Whether  in  fulness  or  lofti 
ness,  we  know  of  nothing  similar  to  it — of 
nothing  but  what  is  second  to  it  —  in  mere 
human  literature. 

158.  The  first  portion  of  the  work,  and  for 
the  scientific  philosopher  probably  its  finest 
portion,  represents  the  origin  and  progression 
of  this  universe  from  the  sun,  and  specifically, 
the  origin  of  our  own  planet,  with  the  reign 
of  the  general  spring,  and  the  consequent  de- 
velopment of  the  first  mineral,  vegetable,  and 
animal  kingdoms  one  from  another  in  succes- 
sion ;  for  nature,  at  the  beginning,  was  big 
with  the  principles  of  all  things,. and  the  earth 
was  near  to  its  parent  sun,  with  as  yet  no  at- 
mosphere, but  the  serene  supernal  ether. 
And,  as  before  observed,  the  author  here  as- 
serts, as  illustrated  in  the  Principia,  that  there 
were  seven  planets  created  at  the  same  time. 
Next,  we  are  led  to  the  human  body,  wrought 
by  the  infinite  in  the  ovum,  furnished  by  tho 
Tree  of  Life,  in  the  innermost  focus  of  the 
spring,  and  the  paradise  of  Paradise  ;  crea- 
tion rising  tluis,  in  a  glorious  pile,  centre  above 
centre.  Thereafter,  we  have  the  infancy  and 
growth  of  the  mind  of  the  first  born,  in  a  state 
of  integrity  and  innocency  ;  with  its  elevation 
into  the  three  new  kingdoms.  Then  there  is 
the  birth  of  Eve,  and  the  manner  of  it,  and 
her  education  by  ministering  spirits,  and  her 
betrothal  and  marriage  to  Adam.  And  the 
author  concludes  —  "  this  was  the  sixth  scene 
on  the   world's  stage."     The  Seventh  was 

YET  to  come. 

159.  This  work  constitutes  the  end  of  Swe- 
-denborg's scientific  course ;  and  a  beautiful 
I  termination  it  is  too  ;  uniting  Science,  Natural 
I  and   Mental   Philosophy,  Poetry,  Love  and 


LIFE   AND    WHITINGS    OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


43 


TTisdom,  Earth  and  Heaven.  He  began  from 
God,  as  the  Fountain  of  the  Sciences  ;  the 
wisdom  of  creation  was  the  desire  and  wisdom 
of  his  labors ;  and  liere  he  ended  with  his  be- 
ginning, carrying  God's  ll^irvest  to  God  liim- 
self.  With  a  little  pains  to  put  this  P^ssay 
into  measure,  it  would  be  recognized  as  a 
beautiful  Poem. 

IGO.  For  the  mere  jjurpose  of  giving  the 
reader  an  example  of  his  style,  in  the  more 
poetic  and  concluding  parts  of  this  work,  but 
by  no  means  to  attempt  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
embodied  beauty  of  the  whole,  we  here  quote 
the  following  passages  :  — 

"  But  this  order,  [the  divine  order  of  the  human 
form,]  viewed  in  substance  and  effigy,  that  is,  in 
the  face,  is  called  beauty  and  handsomeness,  the 
perfection  of  which  results  from  the  agreement 
of  all  essentials,  from  inmost  principles  to  outer- 
most, viz.  from  the  correspondence  of  life  with  its 
spiritual  heat  or  fire,  and  of  the  brightness  thence 
arising  with  its  coloring  tincture,  by  which  the 
tlaming  principle  itself  becomes  pellucid,  and  last- 
ly, of  this  flower,  with  the  designation  of  lines  by 
fibres  according  to  the  laws  of  the  harmonies  of 
nature ;  all  whicli  things  ultimately  must  present 
themselves  visible  in  a  plane  handsomely  winding. 
But  the  agreement  of  all  these  things  cannot  pos- 
sibly exist  without  a  spiritual  principle  of  union,  or 
love  in  the  veriest  rays  of  life;  from  that  principle 
ilone  beauty  derives  its  harmony,  its  florid  and 
genuine  complexion  and  life,  its  daydawn  and 
vernal  freshness;  wherefore  love  itself  shining 
forth  from  elegance  of  form,  from  its  hidden  and 
innate  virtue,  elicits  mutual  love,  and  as  an  index 
reveals  the  vein  of  beauty. 

"  Whilst  the  damsel  snatched  at  these  words 
with  a  greedy  ear,  and,  as  it  were,  sucked  them 
in,  with  her  whole  mind,  she  retired  a  little  into 
herself,  to  take  a  view  of  herself  for  she  began 
to  consider  of  some  ideas  which  were  newly 
conceived ;  and  whilst  she  in  some  degree  re- 
strained her  respiration,  lest  it  should  interrupt 
the  thoughts  of  her  mind  by  too  deep  recipro- 
cations, she  again,  with  a  soul,  as  it  were,  set  at 
liberty,  gently  accosted  her  celestial  companion  in 
these  words:  I  will  discover  to  you  the  idea  which 
has  newly  insinuated  itself  into  my  mind,  in  conse- 
(juence  of  what  you  have  been  saying,  viz.  that  the 
beauty  of  the  face,  arising  from  that  order  of  the 
Supreme,  is  only  a  perfection  of  the  body,  but  I 
see  clearly,  that  a  perfection  still  more  illustrious 
and  more  excellent  flows  from  the  same  order,  to 
wit,  perfection  of  the  life  itself,  whicii  properly  or 
principally  involves  the  state  of  that  integrity,  con- 
cerning which  you  so  kindly  promised  to  instruct 
ine  ;  I  entreat  you  therefore  to  add  one  favor  to 
another,  by  instructing  me,  what  and  of  v^at  quali- 
ty is  perfection  of  life  "}  To  this  question  the  celes- 
tial intelligence  replied  as  follows:  I  perceive, 
says  she,  that  our  ideas,  thine  and  mine,  like  con- 
sociate  sisters,  tend  to  the  same  point ;  for  my  dis- 
course of  itself  already  slides  into  the  subject  of 
thine  inquiry,  since  one  perfection  involves  another, 
inasiimch  as  another  and  another  is  born  from  the 
same  order.  The  perfection  of  the  body  is  the 
perfection  of  form  in  its  substance,  from  which,  as 
from  its  subject,  sprouts  forth  the  perfection  of 
forc(;s  and  of  life ;  f^)r  nothing  predicable  exists 
which  does  not  take  its  actuality  from  this  circum- 
stance, that  it  subsists,  that  is,  from  its  substance ; 


from  what  is  not  sometliing  it  is  impossible  that 
any  thing  can  result ;  the  forces  themselves  and 
changes  of  life,  inasmuch  as  they  flow  from  a  sub- 
stance, become  efficient.  Wherefore  a  similar 
order  has  place  in  thy  forces  and  modes  of  forces, 
as  in  thy  fibres,  regarded  as  substances.  Hence 
it  follows,  that  perfection  of  life  presents  itself 
visible  in  perfection  of  tlie  body  ;is  in  its  effigy. 
And  whereas  perfection  of  body,  especially  beauty, 
is  an  object  of  sense,  but  perfection  of  life,  like  a 
mist,  shuns  human  ken,  unless  it  be  viewed  from  a 
sublime  principle,  therefore  I  was  desirous  of  pre- 
senting a  mirror  of  the  latter  in  the  former,  for  the 
sake  of  gratifying  thy  wish. 

"  But  thou,  my  daughter,  art  the  only  one, 
together  with  him  who  is  the  only  one  with  thee 
in  this  orb,  who  lives  this  order,  and  bears  its  im- 
age. That  only  one  is  not  far  off  from  thee,  ho 
stands  in  the  centre  of  thy  grove,  and  looks  at 
thee  with  a  look  of  satisfaction  ;  we  observe  him, 
but  he  is  ignorant  of  it ;  do  not  turn  thy  face  in 
that  direction,  but  let  him  come  to  thee,  and  court 
thee  with  humble  entreaty ;  thou  art  to  be  the 
partner  of  his  life,  and  the  partner  of  his  bed  ;  he 
is  assigned  to  thee  by  heaven ;  this  also  is  the  day 
appointed  for  your  marriage,  and  the  hour  is  at  hand 
in  which  you  are  to  be  united.  Instantly  tiie  con- 
nubial celestials  tied  up  into  a  regular  knot  her 
hair,  which  covered  her  neck  in  ringlets,  and  in- 
sorted  it  in  a  golden  circlet :  and  at  the  same  time 
they  fastened  with  their  fingers  a  crown  of  dia- 
monds set  on  her  head ;  thus  they  adorned  her  as 
a  bride  for  the  coming  of  her  husband,  adding 
ornaments  to  her  native  neatness  and  simplicity, 
and  to  the  natural  perfection  of  her  beauty.  The 
damsel,  still  ignorant  of  her  destination,  and  of 
what  was  meant  by  marriage,  and  by  partnership 
of  the  bed,  whilst  the  celestials  were  thus  em- 
ployed, and  possibly  whilst,  by  turning  her  eyes 
in  that  direction,  she  at  the  same  time  got  a 
glimpse  of  him,  had  such  a  suffusion  on  her  cheeks, 
that  life  sparkled  from  the  inmost  principles  of  her 
face  into  the  flame  of  a  kind  of  love,  and  this 
flame  assumed  a  purple  hue,  which  beautifully 
tinged  her,  like  a  rose  ;  thus  she  was  changed,  as 
it  were,  into  the  image  of  a  naked  celestial  grace. 

"  Whilst  the  first  begotten  led  a  solitary  para- 
disiacal life,  and  fed  his  mind  at  ease  with  the  de- 
lights of  the  visible  world,  he  recollected  a  thou- 
sand times  that  most  beautiful  nymph,  who,  during 
his  sleep,  was  seen  by  hiui  in  this  grove  ;  where- 
fore a  thousand  times  he  retraced  his  steps  thither, 
but  always  in  vain  ;  the  idea  of  her,  which  was  in 
consequence  excited,  kindled  such  a  fire  as  to  in- 
flame the  inmost  principles  of  his  life,  and  thus  to 
turn  its  trampiillity  into  care  and  anxiety.  This 
ardor  increased  even  to  this  day,  in  which  it  was 
appointed,  by  the  Divine  Providence,  that  his 
wound,  which  then  lurked  in  his  inmost  veins, 
should  be  healed  by  enjoyment;  wherefore  whilst 
he  now  again  meditated  on  the  sanie  path,  he 
came  even  to  the  entrance  of  this  grove,  wliich 
was  the  only  entrance,  without  mistaking  his  way  ; 
rejoicing  intensely  at  this  circumstance,  he  hastened 
instantly  to  the  midst  of  it,  to  the  very  tree,  undei 
which  he  had  once  so  deliciously  rested ;  and  see 
ing  the  couch  there,  the  idea  of  sleep  so  revived, 
that  he  spied,  as  with  his  eyes,  her  very  face 
And  whilst  he  was  wholly  intent  on  her  image, 
and  extended  his  sight  a  little  farther,  lo  !  he  saw 
and  acknowledged  the  nymph  herself,  in  the  midst 
of  the  choir  of  intelligences  ;  at  this  sight  he  was 
in  such  emotion,  ;ind  so  filled  witii  love,  that  he 
doubted  a  lonir  time   whether   his  sight  did  not 


44 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


deceive  hiih  ;  but  presently,  wlien  the  crowd  of  his 
thoughts  was  a  little  dispersed,  it  occurred  to  his 
mind,  that  he  was  brought  hither  of  the  Divine 
Providence,  and  that  this  was  the  event,  of  which 
previous  notice  was  given  him  in  sleep  ;  and  that 
she  it  was  whom  heaven  had  marked  out  for  him 
as  a  bride  and  a  conjiigial  partner.  I  see  clearly, 
said  he,  that  she  is  mine,  for  she  is  from  my  own 
bosom,  and  from  my  own  lite.  But  we  must  pro- 
ceed according  to  order,  that  what  is  divine  may 
be  in  wliat  is  honorable,  and  wluit  is  lionorable  in 
its  form,  or  in  decorum  ;  she  must  therefore  be  en- 
treated and  courted  with  supplication.  Whilst  he 
was  intent  on  these  and  several  other  purposes, 
the  celestial  intelligence  beckoned  to  him  with  a 
nod  to  make  his  approach ;  and  whilst  he  was  lead- 
ing the  bride  in  his  hand,  this  scene  was  ended, 
which  was  tlie  sixtli  in  the  theatre  of  the  orb."  — 
Worship  and  Love  of  God,  100,  101,  109,  110. 

161.  "  Thi-ee  celebrated  meii  in  Sweden," 
observes  a  native  author,  "  have  distinguished 
themselves  by  writing  sublimely  and  beauti- 
fully on  the  beautiful ;  Swedenborg,  to  whom 
Love  was  every  thing,  as  well  as  the  relation 
established  by  love  between  the  True  and  the 
Good ;  Thorild,  to  whom  nature  was  every 
thing,  as  well  as  the  relation  established  by 
nature  between  power  and  harmony ;  and 
Ehrensvard,  to  whom  art  was  every^  tbing,  as 
well  as  the  relation  established  by  art  between 
Genius  and  the  Ideal ;  "  *  But  of  all  Swe- 
denborg's  works  he  esteems  the  treatise  on  the 
"  Worship  and  Love  of  God  "  the  most  beau- 
tiful, and  the  most  conspicuous  for  its  "  bril- 
liant and  harmonious  latinit}\"  The  same 
writer  says,  (and  it  should  be  remembered 
that  he  was  not  a  follower  of  Swedenborg) 
that  "  it  is  written  with  so  much  poetic  life 
and  inspii'ation,  that  if  divided  amongst  a 
dozen  poets,  it  would  be  suthcient  to  tix  every 
one  of  them  on  the  heaven  of  poesy  as  stars 
of  the  first  magnitude." 

162.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  our 
author  was  in  the  least  aware  that  his  literary  life 
was  now  closed  ;  but  he  stood  amid  the  sheaves, 
contemplating  the  tillage  of  future  y^ears,  in 
the  old  domain  of  Science  and  Philosophy, 
although  trembling,  nevertheless,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  an  undisclosed  Event.  Great,  Humble 
Man  !  How  beautiful  are  his  steps  upon  the 
Eternal  Hills !  while  the  unclouded  Sun  of 
Heaven  is  shining  on  his  venerable  head.  But 
let'  us  not  anticipate. 

Swedenborg's  Style. 

163.  It  is  interesting  now,  after  having  fol- 
lowed Swedenborg  to  the  end  of  his  scientific 
career,  to  pass  a  brief  notice  upon  his  style. 
We  lind  increased  life  in  this  respect  as  w^e 
proceed  with  his  works.  The  style  of  The 
Principia  is  clear,  felicitous,  though  some- 
what repetitious,  and  occasionally  breaks  forth 
into  a  beautiful  but  formal  eloquence.  The 
ancient  mythology  lends  frequent  figures  to 
the  scientitic  process,  and  the  author's  treat- 
ment would  seem   to  imply  his  belief  that  in 

*  Extract  from  the  Mimer  in  the  Documents. 


the  generations  of  the  gods,  there  was  imbed- 
ded a  hint  of  the  origin  of  the  world.  Occa- 
sionally subjects  of  unpromising  look  are  in- 
vested with  sublime  proportions,  as  when  he 
likens  the  mathematical  or  natural  point  to  a 
"  two-faced  Janus,  which  looks  on  either  side 
toward  either  universe,  both  into  infinite  and 
into  finite  immensity."  The  manner  of  the 
Outlines  on  the  Infinite  is  not  dissimilar  to  that 
of  The  Principia,  only  less  elaborate,  and 
somewhat  more  round  and  liberal.  The  style 
of  The  Economy,  however,  displays  the  fuU 
courtliness  of  a  mastei', — free,  confident,  con- 
fiding ;  self-complacent,  but  ahvays  aspiring ; 
at  home  in  his  thoughts,  though  voyaging 
through  untravelled  natures  ;  then  most  swift 
in  motion  onwards  when  most  at  rest  in  some 
great  attainment ;  not  visibly  subject  to  second 
thoughts,  or  to  the  devil's  palsy  of  self-appro- 
bation ;  flying  over  great  sheets  of  reason 
with  easy  stretches  of  power ;  contradicting 
his  predecessors  point  blank,  without  the  pos- 
sibility of  offending  their  honored  manes:  in 
these  and  other  respects  the  style  of  The 
Economy  occupies  new  ground  of  excellence. 
The  latter  portion  of  the  work  particulax'ly, 
"  On  the  Human  Soul,"  is  a  sustained  expres- 
sion of  the  loftiest  order,  and  in  this  respect 
won  the  commendations  of  Coleridge,  who  was 
no  bad  judge  of  style.  Tlie  Animal  Kingdom, 
however,  is  riper,  rounder,  and  more  free  than 
even  the  last-mentioned  work  ;  more  intimate- 
ly methodical,  and  at  the  same  time  better 
constructed.  The  treatises  on  the  organs, 
themselves  correspondently  organic,  are  like 
stately  songs  of  science  dying  into  poetry  j 
it  is  surprising  how  so  didactic  a  mind  carved 
out  the  freedom  and  beauty  of  these  epic 
chapters.  It  is  the  same  with  The  Worship 
and  Love  of  God,  the  ornament  in  which  is 
rich  and  flamboyant,  but  upborne  on  the 
colonnades  of  a  living  forest  of  doctrines. 
We  observe  then,  upon  the  whole,  this  pecu- 
liarity, that  Sweden boi'g's  address  became 
more  intense  and  ornamental  from  the  begin- 
ning to  tiie  end  of  these  works  ;  a  somewhat 
rare  phenomenon  in  literature,  for  the  imagi- 
nation commonly  burns  out  in  proportion  as 
what  is  termed  sober  reason  advances,  where- 
as with  this  author  his  imagination  was  kin- 
dled at  the  torch  of  his  reason,  and  never 
flamed  forth  freely  until  the  soberness  of  his 
maturity  had  set  it  on  fire  from  the  wonderful 
love  that  couches  in  all  things. 

164.  But  as  if  to  body  forth  a  stupendous 
truth  in  the  mystery  of  mere  rhetoric,  we 
find  him,  after  the  opening  of  his  spiritual 
sight,  putting  ofi"  all  the  imaginative,  all  the 
flowers  and  garniture  of  speech,  and  descend- 
ing (if  descent  it  can  be  called)  again  to 
the  soberest  matter  of  fact  expression,  which 
has  eax'ned  for  him  among  those  Mho  do  not 
appreciate  him,  the  reputation  of  ''  the  driest 
of  all  mortal  wn-iters  !  "  The  truth  is,  how- 
ever, it  is  a  want  of  sympathy  and   under- 


LITE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


45 


standing  of  the  subjects  treated  of,  which 
makes  the  style  pall  so  heavily  upon  many. 
Yet  still  there  is  this  remarkable  transition 
which  we  speak  of.  Whence  was  it?  What 
shall  we  make  of  it?  Did  the  eternal  truths 
of  God  and  heaven,  for  which  he  claims  not 
the  authorship,  but  only  the  humble  instrument 
of  their  promulgation,  disdain  the  help  of  all 
human  accomplishment  ?  And  is  true,  highest 
poetry,  still  to  be  seen  in  these  unaffected, 
wondrous  revelations  ?  Such  is  undoubtedly 
the  solution  of  the  problem.  At  all  events, 
here  is  an  unprecedented  piienomena  in  the 
matter  of  mere  style,  shadowing  forth,  as  its 
history  plainly  does,  a  mighty  mystery  of 
truth.  As  if,  after  the  highest  flights  of  hu- 
man science  and  i)hilosophy,  enriched  by  the 
beauty  of  a  heavenly  imagination,  had  been 
reached  by  mortal,  then,  to  make  way  for 
still  higher  truths  which  no  mortal  could  dis- 
cover, the  ordering  of  heaven  was  to  lay  aside 
all  the  ornament  of  earth,  and  let  the  beauties 
of  Truth  itself,  which  is  "  beauty  unadorned," 
be  displayed  to  all  who  could  appreciate  them. 
And  to  those  who  could  not,  let  not  the  truths 
of  so  high  a  nature  be  lightly  or  superficially 
acquiesced  in,  from  the  mere  beauty  of  an  out- 
ward and  earthly  envelope  which  could  not  at- 
tract to  their  inmost  riches.  Here  again  is 
Providence,  taking  care  of  its  own,  and  con- 
founding alike  the  art  and  wisdom  of  the  world. 
IGo.  It  ought  to  be  said,  however,  that  the 
style  of  Svvedenbarg,  at  the  time  here  alluded 
to,  is  wonderfully  clear  and  simple,  not  by  any 
means  destitute  of  real  beauty,  abounding  in 
many  exquisite  passages,  and  admirably  adapted 
to  the  truths  conveyed.  But  we  must  not  go 
before  our  subject. 

Philosophic  and  Scientific  Genius. 
166.  Before  closing  our  notice  of  Sweden- 
borg  as  a  man  of  science,  it  is  proper  to  ob- 
serve that  he  was  not  so  much  a  collector  of 
facts,  as  a  systematizer  of  facts,  and  a  dis- 
coverer of  their  hidden  causes.  For  instance, 
he  says,  in  reference  to  his  knowledge  of 
anatomy,  which  he  professes  to  have  obtained 
principally  from  the  writings  and  experiments 
of  others,  although  he  added  some  experiments 
of  his  own: — "'I  thought  it  better  to  use 
the  facts  supplied  by  others  ;  for  there  are 
some  persons  who  seem  born  for  experimental 
observations ;  who  see  moie  acutely  than 
others,  as  if  they  derived  a  greater  share  of 
acumen  from  nature.  Such  were  Eustachius, 
Leuwenhock,  lluysch,  Lancisius,  &;c.  There 
are  others  who  enjoy  a  natural  faculty  for 
eliciting,  by  the  contemplation  of  established 
facts,  their  hidden  causes.  Both  are  pecu- 
liar gifts,  and  are  seldom  united  in  the  same 
person.'  This  is  doubtless  true  as  it  relates 
to  establishing  experimental  observations  in 
the  first  place ;  but  when  he  who  is  capable 
of  eliciting,  by  established  facts,  their  hidden 
causes,  shall  have  accomplished  his  end,   he 


will  be  better  enabled  tlian  the  simply  experi- 
mental or  scientific  man,  by  retracing  his 
steps,  to  enlarge  u|)on  those  very  same  facts 
and  experiments  which  served  as  a  basis  for 
his  advancement.  For  from  the  eminence  at 
which  he  has  ari-ived,  he  can  sec  from  the 
light  of  causes,  almost  infinite  things  in  effects, 
of  which  they  from  beneath  are  ignorant. 
The  ladder  which  leads  from  the  earth  to  the 
heaven  of  the  mind,  is  for  the  angels  —  for 
light  and  truth  —  to  descend,  as  well  as  to 
ascend.  It  is  from  this  view  of  the  subject 
that  we  are  to  account  for  the  fact  of  Svveden- 
borg's  having  obtained  a  more  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  the  anatomy  of  the  human  system 
than  any  other  man."  —  Hoharfs  Life,  p.  49. 

167.  But  it  is  to  be  remarked,  in  reference  to 
this  important  feature  of  Swedenborg's  mind, 
that  although,  as  he  modestly  confesses,  he  was 
less  gifted  in  observation  than  in  the  penetra- 
tion of  causes,  yet  he  has  shown  a  most  ad- 
mirable wisdom  in  the  kind  of  facts  he  did 
make  use  of,  and  a  philosophy  which  puts  to 
shame  that  sturdy  adherence  to  mere  outward 
phenomena  which  was  so  characteristic  of  the 
philosophy  of  his  age.  It  is  interesting  to 
hear  him  express  himself  on  this  point. 

"  Many,"  says  he,  "  stubbornly  refuse  to  stir  a 
single  step  beyond  visible  phenomena  for  the  sake 
of  the  truth ;  and  others  prefer  to  drown  their  ideas 
in  the  occult  at  the  very  outset.  To  thes*.  two 
classes,  our  demonstration  may  not  be  acceptable. 
For,  in  regard  to  the  former,  it  asserts  that  the 
truth  IS  to  be  sought  for  beyond  the  range  of  the 
eye  ;  and  in  regard  to  the  latter,  that  in  all  the  na- 
ture of  things  tlierc  is  no  such  thing  as  an  occult 
quality  ;  there  is  nothing  but  is  either  already  the 
subject  of  demonstration,  or  capable  of  becoming 
so."  —  Economy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom,  Vol.  II. 

p.  aio. 

1 68.  S  wedenborg  was  of  too  vast  and  interior 
a  genius,  to  ignore  the  invisible,  and  yet  he 
had  too  much  common  sense  to  disparage  the 
right  kind  and  necessary  number  of  facts. 
Hear  him  again  on  this  subject. 

"  We  do  not,"  says  he,  "  need  such  innumerable 
facts,  as  some  suppose,  for  a  knowledge  of  natural 
things ;  but  only  those  of  leading  importance, 
and  which  issue  directly  and  proximately,  or  at 
any  rate  not  very  obliquely  or  remotely,  from  our 
mechanical  world  and  the  powers  thereof".  For  by 
means  of  these  we  may  be  led  to  principles  ;  first 
to  compound,  and  so  far  as  we  are  concerned, 
general  principles  ;  next  from  tliese,  by  geometr\', 
(availing  ourselves  again  of  the  leading  facts  ex- 
isting in  this  middle  region,)  to  particular  princi- 
ples ;  and  so  in  succession  to  still  more  simple 
principles  ;  and  at  last  to  the  very  simplest  —  to 
the  fountain  itself,  from  which  all  principles,  how- 
ever modified,  ultimately  issue.  The  remaining 
facts,  bulky  as  they  are,  which  are  too  remote 
from  the  source,  and  estranged  from  the  simple 
mechanism  of  the  world,  —  which  are  present  lat- 
erally, but  do  not  directly  respect  the  source,  — 
are  not  so  necessary  ;  indeed  they  are  likelier  to 
guide  us  wrong,  than  to  keep  the  mind  in  the 
highway  of  the  subject.  The  reason  is,  that  there 
may  be  an  infinite  number  of  phenomena  which 
are  immensoly  distant  from  the  source,  and  from 


4G 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


which  it  is  impossible  to  arrive  at  it  save  by  mnl- 
tipliod  and  circuitous  routes.  Nature,  so  vastly 
modified  and  ramified  in  the  world,  may  be  likened 
to  the  arteries  and  veins  in  the  animal  body,  which 
in  their  beginning,  as  they  issue  from  their  foun- 
tain, the  heart,  are  wide  comparatively  ;  but  grad- 
ually become  smaller,  and  subdivide  again  and 
again,  until  they  grow  as  minute  as  hairs  or  invisi- 
ble threads.  Were  one  perfectly  ignorant  of  the 
fountain  and  beginning  oi'  the  blood  which  is 
flowing  through  these  arteries  and  veins,  yet  de- 
sirous to  explore  its  situation  experimentally,  it 
would  not  be  well  to  spend  any  time  over  the  cap- 
illary branches,  or  to  make  repeated  dissections, 
\vith  a  view  of  finding  the  way  from  one  such 
branch  to  another.  Any  labor  of  the  kind  would 
probably  lead  us  into  other  veins  and  arteries,  and 
again  comuiit  us  to  circuitous  wanderings  before 
we  could  reach  the  grand  and  royal  aorta  ;  and 
not  improbably  we  should  fall  from  veins  into  arte- 
ries, when  intending  the  contrary,  so  as  to  be  go- 
ing away  from  the  fountain  instead  of  approaching 
it.  .  .  .  As  to  those  who  cannot  obtain  a  suf- 
ficient knowledge  of  mundane  things  to  enable 
them  to  reason-from  principles  and  causes,  it  is  no 
wonder  they  arc  importunate  for  more  facts,  and 
complain  that  tlie  experience  of  thousands  of  years 
leaves  them  still  poor  and  inadequately  provided  ; 
at  the  same  time  it  is  fiiir  to  doubt  whether  any  en- 
dowment of  facts  or  liberality  of  information  would 
give  them  spirit  for  this  high  walk  of  knowledge." 
—  Introduction  to  Principia,  pp.  39,  40. 

169.  Nothing,  certainly,  could  show  the 
wisdom  of  our  author  more  conspicuously  than 
this.  Swedenborg  loved  to  see  truth  as  well 
as  any  man,  and  to  be  i/i  /as  senses  at  all 
times :  "  not  for  the  purpose  of  degrading  the 
mind,  but  of  allowing  it  to  descend  (as  the 
soul  descends)  by  degrees  (per  gradus)  into 
matter,  that  matter  might  be  raised  to  the 
sphere  of  intelligence,  and  there  reconciled 
with  spirit ;  so  that  from  these  two,  reason 
might  be  born."' 

170.  But  behold  a  beautiful  Providence. 
Who  has  produced  more  facts  —  been  a  greater 
observer,  than  Swedenborg?  His  grand  mis- 
sion was  to  unfold  and  exhibit  the  laws  and 
facts  of  the  spiritual  world.  "  llis  education 
was  somewhat  as  follows.  By  ample  instruc- 
tion and  personal  remark  he  learned  the  chief 
facts  of  the  natural  world,  and  perceived  in 
them  a  philosophy  reaching  almost  to  the 
heavens,  but  strictly  '  terminated  in  matter  ' 
at.  the  lower  end.  After  this,  his  spiritual 
senses  were  opened,  and  again  by  ample  in- 
struction and  personal  remark  he  learned  the 
general  facts  of  the  spiritual  world,  and  the 
Word  of  God  was  unfolded  to  him  as  thus 
prepared.  By  all  which  we  are  lawfully  con- 
firmed in  Bacon's  doctrine  of  the  necessity 
of  experience ;  for  until  experience  was  given, 
the  spiritual  world  was  unknown ;  and  until 
an  adequate  intellect  was  sent,  and  added  to 
such  experience,  its  quality  was  unknown.  The 
experience  without  the  reason  had  existed  in 
the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  the 
Book  of  Revelation ;  nay,  from  time  imme- 
morial iu  dre.iijis  a...i  oU^,,.T;i.iIu!'ul   iiiaa'.rcsta- 


tions  of  proved  authenticity  :  the  reason  with- 
out the  experience  is  what  philosophers  have 
attempted  since  the  date  of  history.  But 
nothing  came,  or  could  come,  of  either,  until 
the  two  were  adequately  combined  in  one  or- 
ganization ;  i.  e.,  in  Swedenborg.  And  that 
in  him  they  were  combined  will  survive  and 
defy  contradiction.  The  question  of  fact  is 
the  first  in  all  scientific  or  philosophical  pro- 
cesses, where  human  thought  is  to  work  ;  and 
so  it  is  the  first  in  Swedenborg's  case,  and 
determines  that  of  possibility :  afterwards 
reasons  may  be  discussed  in  matters  proffer- 
ing themselves  to  reason,  and  the  facts  will 
acquire  their  rational  value  when  their  princi- 
ciples  are  found  out."  —  Introductory  Remarks 
to  Economy  of  Animal  Kingdom,  pp.  60,  61. 

171.  And  to  complete  this  sketch  of  our 
author's  genius,  "  it  is  not  therefore  unaccount- 
able, though  certainly  without  parallel,  that 
one  who  had  solved  the  problems  of  centuries, 
and  pushed  the  knowledge  of  causes  into  re- 
gions whose  existence  no  other  philosopher 
suspected,  should  at  length  abandon  the  field 
of  science,  without  afterwards  alluding  so 
much  as  once  to  the  mighty  task  he  had  sur- 
mounted. This  was  in  accordance  with  his 
mind  even  in  his  scientific  days :  the  presence 
of  truth  was  what  pleased  him ;  its  absence 
was  what  pained  him  ;  and  he  ahvays  joyfully 
exchanged  his  light  for  a  greater  and  purer, 
even  though  cherished  thoughts  had  to  die 
daily,  as  the  condition  of '  passing  into  the 
higher  illumination.  And  it  was  his  happy 
lot,  not  to  fight  temporal  battles  for  Protes- 
tantism, or  to  be  the  prop  of  an  old  religion, 
whose  very  victories  often  precluded  its  com- 
munion with  the  Prince  of  Peace ;  but  to  be 
the  means  of  averting  destruction  from  the 
whole  race  of  man,  and  of  securing  to  all  a 
hold  on  Christianity  which  can  never  fail : 
and  in  the  course  of  this  instrumentality,  to 
walk  undismayed  in  that  other  world  which 
has  been  lost  to  knowledge  for  thousands  of 
years,  or  preserved  only  in  the  unwritten 
parts  of  imagination,  the  misunderstood  depth 
of  ancient  fable,  or  the  narrations  of  the 
earlier  poets.  Hence  he  is  the  first  of  the 
moderns  to  penetrate  the  secrets  of  nature, 
the  first  also  to  be  admitted  to  the  hidden 
things  of  the  spiritual  world  :  the  two  spheres 
of  knowledge  being  realized  at  once  ;  where- 
fore henceforth  he  is  our  earnest,  that  since 
we  are  now  on  the  right  track,  and  the  works 
of  God  are  become  our  heritage,  the  progres- 
sion in  both  may  be  practical  and  unending.  — 
Ibid.  pp.  89,  90. 

172.  "  We  may  now  state  that  Sweden- 
borg's philosophy  attains  its  summit  in  the 
marriage  of  the  scholasticism  and  common 
sense,  wuth  the  sciences,  of  his  age  ;  in  the 
consummation  of  which  marriage  his  especial 
genius  was  exerted  and  exhausted.  In  him 
the  oldest  and  the  newest  spirit,  met  in  one ; 
reverence    and  i;inovalion   wl':;'.   even!}'    min- 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


47 


gled ;  nothing  ancient  was  superseded,  though 
pressed  into  the  current  service  of  the  cen- 
tury, lie  was  one  of  the  links  that  connect 
by-gone  ages  with  to-day,  breatliing  for  us 
among  the  lost  truths  of  the  past,  and  per- 
petuating tiiem  in  unnoticed  forms  along  the 
stream  of  the  future,  lie  lived  however 
thoroughly  in  his  own  age,  and  was  far  before 
his  contem{)oraries,  only  because  others  did 
not,  or  could  not,  use  the  entire  powers  of  its 
sphere.  We  regard  him  therefore  as  an 
honest  representative  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. He  in  his  line,  gives  us  the  best  esti- 
mate of  the  all  which  any  man  could  do  in 
Europe  at  that  period.  But  who  can  exceed 
his  age,  although  not  one  in  a  generation 
comes  up  to  it  ?  It  is  not  for  mortals  to  live, 
excepting  in,  and  for,  the  present ;  the  next 
year's  growth  of  thought  is  as  unattainable  for 
us  to-day,  as  the  crops  of  the  next  summer. 
Still  the  future  may  and  does  exist  in  prophe- 
cies and  shadows.  These,  among  other  things, 
are  great  scientilic  systems,  the  children  of 
single  powerful  minds,  the  Platos,  Aristotles 
and  Swedenborgs  ;  yet  which  are  but  outlines 
that  will  one  day  have  contents  that  their  au- 
thors knew  not,  modifications  that  their  par- 
ents could  not  have  borne,  supercessions  that 
hurt  no  one,  only  because  their  sensitive  par- 
tisans have  given  place  to  other  judges.  It  is 
humanity  alone  that  realizes  what  its  happi- 
est sons  propose  and  think  they  carry ;  most 
things  require  to  be  done  for  ages  after  their 
authors  have  done  them,  that  so  the  doing 
may  be  full ;  and  above  all,  the  race  is  the 
covert  individual  who  writes  the  philosophies 
of  the  world.  Add,  that  whatever  system  is 
safe  always  follows  practice. 

173.  "  It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  we  here 
speak  of  his  system,  particularly  witli  refer- 
ence to  its  generative  power,  and  which  sys- 
tem, we  pi'esume,  has  been  exceeded  and  sur- 
passed :  with  reference,  however,  to  his  phys- 
ical principles,  such  as  the  doctrine  of  respira- 
tion above  mentioned,  these  are  sempiternal 
pieces  of  nature,  and  rank  not  with  the  re- 
sults, but  among  the  springs  of  systems.  The 
world  will  therefore  taste  them  afresh  from 
age  to  age,  long  after  discarding  the  beauti- 
ful rind  which  enclosed  them  in  the  pages  of 
their  first  discoverer."  —  Wilkinson's  Biogra- 
phy  of  Swedenborg,  pp.  67,  68. 

174.  Finally,  "  Swedenborg  was  not  so  much 
a  scientific  man,  as  a  man  thoroughly  master 
of  the  sciences.  In  Anatomy  and  Physiology 
he  deserves  the  appellation  of  a  Raphael  or  a 
Stoddart.  Every  tiling  he  knew  ministered  to 
his  sublime  AiiT.  It  might  be  said  of  him 
that  he  had  been  carried  out,  like  Ezekiel,  in 
the  spirit  of  the  Lord,  and  set  down  in  the 
midst  of  the  valley  full  of  dry  bones,  and  that 
he  had  been  commanded  to  prophesy  and  say 
unto  theuj,  '  Behold,  1  will  cause  breath  to  en- 
ter into  you,  and  ye  shall  live !  '  lie  seems 
to  have  instinctively  felt,  what  a   French  Au- 


thor remarks,  —  that  the  Church,  which  at 
first  contained  all  the  elements  of  social  lii'e, 
had  gradually  become  unpeopled,  —  that  every 
century  had  seen  a  multitude  leave  the  sanc- 
tuary under  some  particular  banner  ;  and  that 
every  schism  was  summed  up  in  that  greatest 
and  hitherto  most  irreconcilable  of  all,  —  the 
schism  and  defection  of  science.  For  he  now 
began  to  observe  that  those  who  never  accept- 
ed any  thing  but  what  they  could  really  un- 
derstand, were  all  gone  astray,  and  were  hour- 
ly sinking  deeper  in  the  terrible  negation  of 
spiritual  things."  —  RicJis  Biographical  Sketchy 
p.  49. 

175.  On  the  whole,  we  can  only  wonder 
what  Swedenborg  would  have  accomplished, 
had  he  lived  in  our  day,  and  drank  its  spirit. 
How  manfully  would  he  have  handled  the 
terrible  problems  of  the  time !  How  would 
he  have  compacted  the  social  and  political  in 
the  narrow  breast  of  the  physical  thought, 
and  in  that  compression  and  condensation  of 
life,  have  given  breath  and  stroke  to  the  dead- 
est laws  !  How  would  he  have  exulted  in  that 
free  humanity  which  sees  that  the  truths  and 
weal  of  the  millions  are  the  ground  from 
which  future  genius  must  spring :  that  the 
next  unity  is  not  of  thought  with  itself  or  na- 
ture, but  of  practice  and  thought  with  happi- 
ness !  In  the  mean  time  his  scientific  works 
are  and  will  be  helpful ;  and  we  regard  it  a» 
a  misfortune  that,  through  whatever  cause,  the 
rijjest  minds  have  not  the  same  acquaintance 
with  these  books  as  with  the  other  philoso- 
phies ;  for  Swedenborg  belongs  to  our  own 
age  as  a  transition ;  and  it  will  be  found  that, 
at  least  in  time,  he  is  the  first  available  school- 
master of  the  nations.  Well  did  he  conceive 
the  problem  of  universal  education,  which 
lies  not  merely  in  teaching  all  men,  but  first 
in  teaching  them  a  new  kind  of  knowledge, 
catholic  and  delightful  enough  for  those  who 
cannot  learn  class  sciences,  but  only  truths 
like  dawn  and  sunset,  as  self-evident  and  im- 
memorial as  the  ways  of  nature  from  cf  old. 

176.  Let  it  not,  however,  be  supposed  that 
Swedenborg  thought  he  had  completed  the 
method  of  the  sciences,  or  even  inaugurated 
the  new  day  that  his  genius  foresaw.  On  the 
conti'ary,  he  looked  for  this  from  the  hands  of 
his  successors,  and  his  humility  covered  the 
whole  ground  of  his  mind,  although  it  did  not 
discourage  him  from  the  most  energetic  labors. 
Fully  conscious  of  his  own  limits,  he  called 
upon  the  age  to  supply  a  stronger  intelligence 
and  a  more  winning  explorer.  "  It  now  remains 
for  us,"  says  he,  "to  close  with  Nature  where 
she  lies  hidden  in  her  invisible  and  purer, 
world,  and  no  longer  barely  to  celebrate  her 
mystic  rites,  but  to  invite  her  in  person  to  our 
chamber,  to  lay  aside  the  few  draperies  that 
remain,  and  give  all  her  beauty  to  our  gaze.    . 

.  .  She  now  demands  of  the  present  century 
some  man  of  genius  —  his  mind  developed 
and     corrected    bv    experience,    prepared    by 


48 


LIFE    AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


scientific  and  other  culture,  and  possessing  in 
an  eminent  degree  tlie  faculty  of  investigating 
causes,  of  reasoning  connectedly,  and  of  con- 
cluding definitely  on  the  principles  of  series ; 
—  and  when  such  a  one  comes,  to  him,  I 
doubt  not,  she  will  betroth  herself;  and  in 
favor  of  him  will  yield  to  the  arrows  of  love, 
will  own  his  alliance  and  partake  his  bed. 
O  !  that  it  were  my  happy  lot,  to  fling  nuts 
to  the  crowd  and  head  the  torch  bearers  on 
her  marriage  day  !  " 

177.  In  closing  our  remarks  upon  Sweden- 
borg  as  a  man  of  Science,  we  quote  a  short 
notice  from  the  Literary  Remains  of  the  cele- 
brated Coleridge,  (page  424,)  on  the  doctrine 
of  Forms.  The  doctrine  here  treated  of  is 
found  in  the  work  entitled  "  The  Worship  and 
Love  of  God,"  before  noticed,  and  the  notice 
of  Coleridge  is  recommended  both  by  its 
brevity,  and  its  reference  to  a  work  published 
by  Swedenborg  at  the  vei-y  moment  of  his 
transition  to  spiritual  subjects.  "  This,"  he 
observes,  "  would  of  itself  serve  to  mai'k  Swe- 
denborg as  a  man  of  philosophic  genius,  radi- 
cative  and  evolvent.  Much  of  what  is  most 
valuable  in  the  philosophic  works  of  Schelling, 
Schubart,  and  Eschermeyer,  is  to  be  found  an- 
ticipated in  this  supposed  Madman  ;  thrice 
happy  should  we  be,  if  the  learned  and  the 
teachers  of  the  present  age,  were  gifted  with 
a  similar  madness,  —  a  madness,  indeed,  celes- 
tial and  flowing  from  a  divine  mind." 

178.  We  have  now  contemplated  the  sub- 
ject of  our  memoir  as  a  man  of  letters  and  a 
philosopher  of  the  highest  order,  —  distin- 
guished by  "  the  happy  union  of  a  strong 
memory,  a  quick  conception,  and  a  sound 
judgment ;  "  —  as  the  advocate  of  popular 
rights,  and  the  friend  of  progress  ;  though  a 
royalist  by  birth,  and  not  less  so  by  his  taste- 
ful appreciation  of  princely  magnificence,  or 
the  poetry  of  art  as  well  as  nature.  It  may 
help  to  i)repare  the  reader  for  his  more  spirit- 
ual vocation  if  we  add  that  he  was,  withal,  a 
religiom  man.  The  following  rules  which  he 
had  prescribed  for  his  conduct  were  found 
amongst  his  manuscripts :  1.  Often  to  read 
and  meditate  on  the  Word  of  God :  2.  To  sub- 
mit every  thing  to  the  will  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence :  3.  To  observe  in  every  thing  a  pro- 
priety of  behavior,  and  always  to  keep  the 
conscience  clear :  4.  To  discharge  with  fideli- 
ty the  functions  of  his  employments  and  the 
duty  of  his  office,  and  to  render  himself  in  all 
things  useful  to  society. 


PART  II. 

SWEDENBORG,  THE  SEER,  THEOLOGIAN, 
AND  PHILOSOPHER  OF  SPIRIT. 


179.  Previous  to  this  new  period  in  Sweden- 
borg's  life,  he  had  published  no  Theological 
work    and  yet  from  infancy   his   mind  must 


have  been  directed  to  religious  subjects,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  Rules  of  Life  before  quoted, 
from  his  letter  to  Dr.  Beyer  concerninghis  child- 
hood, and  from  the  whole  spirit  of  his  scien- 
tific works. 

180.  We  have  seen  that  Swedenborg's  object 
in  his  later  philosophical  studies,  was  to  obtain 
the  means  of  reacliing  a  knowledge  of  the 
soul,  of  its  connections,  and  its  operations. 
And  in  all  his  writings  on  these  subjects,  every 
thing  tends  to  the  worship  and  love  of  God, 
as  is  especially  seen  in  the  work  which  bears 
that  title. 

181.  vSwedenborg's  extraordinary  acquaint- 
ance with  the  fact^  laws,  and  principles  of 
nature,  as  well  as  his  practical  experience,  were 
essential  to  his  success  in  learning  and  making 
known  the  truths  of  the  spiritual  world,  both 
as  means  of  illustration,  and  of  expanded 
capacity.  But  the  fact  that  he  had  published 
no  work  on  Theology,  would  seem  surprising, 
if  we  did  not  see  in  it  the  Providence  which 
was  preparing  him  for  his  subsequent  duties. 
For  his  mind  was  thus  kept  free  and  open  to 
receive  the  truths  which  were  revealed  to  hira  ; 
without  the  embarrassment  of  being  previous- 
ly confirmed  in  any  human  system  of  religion. 
The  same  Providence  may  be  seen  in  the  fol- 
lowing facts  related  in  another  letter  to  Dr. 
Beyer :  — 

"  I  was  prohibited  reading  dogmatic  and 
systematic  theology  before  heaven  was  open 
to  me,  by  reason  that  unfounded  opinions  and 
inventions  might  thereby  easily  have  insinuated 
themselves,  which  with  difficulty  could  after- 
wards have  been  extirpated  ;  wherefore  vvhen 
heaven  was  opened  to  me  it  was  necessary 
first  to  learn  the  Hebrew  language,  as  well  as 
the  correspondences  of  which  the  whole  Bible 
is  composed,  which  led  me  to  read  the  Word 
of  God  over  many  times ;  and  inasmuch  as 
the  Word  of  God  is  the  source  whence  all 
theology  must  be  derived,  I  was  thereby  en- 
abled to  receive  instructions  from  the  Lord, 
wliQ  is  the  Word."  Those  who  are  acquainted 
with  Swedenborg's  explanation  of  the  Bible 
may  readily  conceive  the  difficulties  which 
would  have  prevented  his  arriving  at  the  state 
to  which  he  was  elevated,  had  his  mind  been 
previously  shackled  by  the  commentaries  and 
biblical  criticisms  in  common  use. 

182.  All  the  works  which  he  published  after 
the  commencement  of  his  illumination,  were  of  a 
theological  or  moral  character,  and  were  writ- 
ten, as  he  says,  with  the  authority  of  living 
experience,  or  of  direct  instruction  from  heaven. 
Thus  they  differed  entirely  in  their  authority 
from  those  which  he  had  written  previously,  and 
for  which  he  never  claimed  any  unusual  authori- 
ty. Indeed  the  grounds  upon  which  he  wrote  his 
philosophical  works,  were  so  totally  different 
from  and  inferior  to  those  upon  which  his 
Theological  works  were  written,  that  in  the 
latter  he  scarcely  ever  even  alludes  to  the 
former.     They  are  liowevpr  rp^nrred  to,  three 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUFL    SWKDF.XROKG. 


49 


or  four  times,  in  some  mar.uscripts  which  he 
left  unpuhlished. 

\H3.  We  may  trace  the  gradual  openinf;;  of 
Swedenborg's  spiritual  senses  sometime  before 
he  was  made  aware  of  his  distinct  and  heavenly 
calling.  For  examples,  in  liis  posthumous 
Adcersaria  on  Genesis  and  Exodus,  he  speaks 
of  the  signification  of  visible  flames,  which 
appeared  to  him  while  writing.  "  By  flames," 
he  says,  "  is  represented  confirmation,  as  has, 
by  the  Divine  Mercy  of  God  Messiah,  ap- 
peared to  me  many  times,  with  variety  of 
magnitude,  color,  and  brilliancy  ;  so  many  in- 
deed that  during  some  months,  while  1  was 
writing  a  certain  small  work,  scarcely  a  day 
passed  in  which  there  did  not  appear  a  flame 
{IS  vivid  as  the  flame  of  fire,  which  was  then 
a  sign  of  approbation.  This  was  before  the 
time  when  spirits  began  to  speak  with  me  by 
M-ord  of  mouth." 

184.  These  visible  signs  of  approbation  seem 
to  give  indications  of  the  manner  in  which  Swe- 
denborg  was  being  prepared  for  the  holy  office 
he  was  soon  to  receive.  We  see  that  he  was 
pursuing  his  studies  under  heavenly  guidance 
and  approbation,  and  also  that  the  clouds  of 
tJie  natural  world  had  begun  to  draw  asunder 
and  to  reveal  the  workings  of  the  spiritual 
world  within.  In  the  following  extract  from 
a  manuscript  called  Swedenborg's  spiritual 
diary,  which  was  commenced  some  two  years 
after  the  Adversaria,  and  consists  of  almost 
daily  memoranda  of  his  experience  in  the 
spiritual  world,  will  be  seen  more  of  these  in- 
dications, and  also  Swedenborg's  total  uncon- 
sciousness of  their  sequel. 

"  How  difficult  it  is  for  man  to  be  persuad^^d  that 
he  is  nded  hy  means  of  spirits. 

"Before  my  mind  was  opened  so  that  I  could 
speak  with  spirits,  and  thus  be  persuaded  by  living 
experience,  such  evidences  were  presented  to  me 
during  many  previous  years,  that  now  I  wonder 
that  I  did  not  then  become  convinced  of  the 
Lord's  ruling  by  means  of  spirits. 

"These  evidences  were  not  only  dreams  for 
some  years  informing  me  concerning  those  things 
which  I  was  writing,  but  also  changes  of  state 
while  I  was  writing,  and  a  certain  extraordinary 
light  on  what  was  written.  Afterwards  I  had  also 
many  visions  while  my  eyes  were  closed :  a  light 
was  miraculously  given  ;  and  many  times  spirits 
were  sensibly  perceived,  as  manifestly  to  the  sense, 
as  bodily  sensations  :  afterwards  also  I  had  infes- 
tations by  various  ways  from  evil  spirits,  in  temp- 
tations, whilst  I  was  writing  such  things  as  evil 
spirits  were  averse  to,  so  that  1  was  beset  almost 
to  horror:  fiery  lights  were  seen:  talking  was 
heard  in  the  morning  time  ;  besides  many  other 
things  ;  until  at  last  when  a  certain  spirit  addressed 
me  in  a  few  words,  I  Avondered  greatly  that  lie 
should  perceive  my  tboughts,  and  afterwards  won- 
dered exceedingly  when  the  way  was  opened  so 
that  I  could  converse  with  spirits,  and  then  the 
spirits  wondered  that  I  should  be  so  surprised. 
From  these  things  it  may  be  concluded  how  diffi- 
cult it  is  for  man  to  be  led  to  believe  that  he  is 
ruled  by  the  Lord  through  spirits,  and  with  what 
diflSculty  he  recedes  from  the  opinion  that  he  lives 


his  own  life  from  himscK  without  spirits.  (Written 
on)  Aujj.  VJ7.  171S.  I  have  at  one  time  perceived, 
some  months  after  beginning  to  speak  with  spirits, 
that  if  I  should  be  let  back  into  my  farmer  state,  I 
nnght  lapse  into  the  opinion  that  these  things  were 
fantasies." 

185.  A  manuscript  volume  describingseveral 
dreams  from  the  year  1730  to  1740,  was  left 
by  Swedenborg  among  his  papers,  but  it  was 
retained  in  his  family  and  is  now  probably 
lost.  Had  it  been  preserved,  it  might  have 
thrown  much  light  on  this  very  interesting 
period  of  Swedenborg's  life. 

Inward  Breathings,  and  other  Indications  of  a 
spiritual  Constitution. 

186.  In  the  diary  occur  also  the  following  pas- 
sages showing  another  form  of  Swedenborg's 
preparation. 

"  Furthermore  I  spoke  with  them  concerning  the 
state  of  their  speech,  and  in  order  that  this  might 
be  perceived,  it  was  shown  to  me  what  was  the 
quality  of  their  breathing,  and  I  was  instructed 
that  the  breathing  of  the  lungs  is  varied  succes- 
sively according  to  the  state  of  their  faith.  This 
was  before  unknown  to  me,  but  yet  I  can  perceive 
and  believe  it,  because  my  breathing  has  been  so 
formed  by  the  Lord,  that  I  could  breathe  inwardly 
for  a  considerable  time  witliout  the  aid  of  the  ex- 
ternal air,  and  still  the  external  senses,  and  also 
actions,  continued  in  their  vigor :  this  cannot  be 
given  to  any  but  those  who  are  so  formed  by  the 
Lord,  and  not,  it  is  said,  unless  miraculously.  I 
was  instructed  also  that  my  breathing  is  so  directed 
without  my  knowledge,  that  I  may  be  with  spirits 
and  speak  with  them." 

187.  Speaking  of  a  manner  of  breathing 
which  is  externally  imperceptible  he   says,  — 

"  In  this  way  I  was  accustomed  to  breathe  first 
in  childhood  when  praying  morning  and  evening 
prayers,  also  sometimes  afterwards  when  I  was  ex- 
ploring the  concordance  of  the  lungs  and  the 
heart,  especially  when  I  was  writing  from  my  mind 
those  things  which  have  been  published,  for  many 
years,  I  observed  constantly  that  there  was  a  tacit 
breathing  hardly  sensible  concerning  which  it  was 
afterwards  given  me  to  think,  tlicn  to  write,  so 
through  many  years  I  was  introduced  from  infancy 
into  such  breatliings,  chiefly  through  intense  spec- 
ulations, in  which  the  respiration  was  quiescent, 
in  no  other  way  is  there  given  an  intense  specu- 
lation of  truth :  then  afterwards  when  heaven  has 
been  opened  so  that  I  might  speak  with  spirits,  so 
entirely  was  this  the  case,  that  I  scarcely  inhaled 
at  all  for  more  than  an  hour,  only  just  enough  air 
to  eniible  me  to  think  ;  and  thus  I  was  introduced 
by  the  Lord  into  interior  respirations." 

188.  And  again,  speaking  of  the  connection 
between  the  breathing  and  the  senses,  he  says, 

"  Moreover  it  has  been  given  me  to  know  these 
same  things  previously  from  a  good  deal  of  ex- 
perience, before  that  I  spoke  with  spirits, — that 
breathing  corresponded  with  the  thoughts,  as  when 
1  held  my  breath  in  ciiildhood  on  purpose,  during 
morning  and  evening  prayers,  and  when  I  tried  to 
make  the  changes  of  breathing  agree  with  those 
of  the  heart,  until  the  understanding  would  almost 
vanish;  also  afterwards  when  I  was  writing  from 


50 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


imagination,  and  I  observed  that  I  held  my  breath 
as  if  it  were  silent." 

189.  Respecting  this  {leculiarity  of  breiith- 
ing,  it  is  truly  remarked  by  Wilkinson,  that 
"As  we  breathe,  so  we  are.  Inward  thoughts 
have  inward  breaths,  and  purer  si)iritual 
thoughts  have  spiritual  breaths  hardly  mixed 
with  material.  Death  is  breathlessness.  Fully 
to  breathe  the  external  atmosphere,  is  equiva- 
lent ccBleris  paribus,  to  living  in  plenary  en- 
joyment of  the  senses  and  the  muscular  pow- 
ers. On  the  other  hand,  the  condition  of 
trance  or  death-life,  is  the  persistence  of  the 
inner  breath  of  thought,  or  the  soul's  sensation, 
while  the  breath  of  the  body  is  annulled.  It 
is  only  those  in  wiiom  this  can  have  place, 
that  may  still  live  in  this  world,  and  yet  be 
consciously  associated  with  the  persons  and 
events  in  the  other.  Hybernation  and  other 
phenomena  come  in  support  of  these  remarks. 
Thus  we  have  common  experience  on  our  side, 
in  asserting  that  the  capacities  of  the  inward 
life,  whether  thought,  meditation,  contempla- 
tion, or  trance,  depend  upon  those  of  the  respi- 
ration, 

190.  "  Some  analogous  power  over  the  breath 
—  a  power  to  live  and  think  without  respiring, 
for  it  is  the  bodily  respiration  that  draws  down 
the  mind  at  the  same  time  that  it  draws  up 
the  air,  and  thus  causes  mankind  to  be  com- 
pound, or  spiritual  and  material  beings  — 
some  analogous  power  to  the  above,  we  say, 
has  lain  at  the  basis  of  the  gifts  of  many  other 
seers  besides  Swedenborg.  It  is  quite  ap- 
parent that  the  Hindoo  Yogi  were  capable  of 
a  similar  state,  and  in  our  own  day  the  phe- 
nomena of  hypnotism  have  taught  us  much 
in  a  scientiiic  manner  of  these  ancient  con- 
ditions and  sempiternal  laws.  Take  away  or 
suspend  that  which  draws  you  to  this  world, 
and  the  spirit,  by  its  own  lightness,  floats  u[)- 
wards  into  the  other.  There  is  however  a 
difference  between  Swedenborg's  state,  as  lie 
reports  it,  and  the  modern  instances,  inasmuch 
as  the  latter  are  artiticial,  and  induced  by  ex- 
ternal effort,  whereas  Swedenborg's  was  natu- 
ral also  and  we  may  say  congenital,  was  the 
combined  regime  of  his  as[)irations  and  respira- 
tions, did  not  engender  sleep,  but  was  accompa- 
nied by  full  waking  and  open  eyes,  and  was  not 
courted  in  the  first  instance  for  the  trances  or 
visions  that  it  brought.  Other  cases  more- 
over are  occasional,  whereas  Swedenborg's 
appears  to  have  been  uninterrupted,  or  nearly 
so,  for  twenty-seven  years. 

191.  "We  have  now  therefore  accounted  in 
some  measure  for  one  part  of  Swedenborg's 
preparation,  and  what  we  have  said  comports 
with  experience,  which  shows  that  those  am- 
phibious conditions  with  which  we  are  more 
familiar,  hinge  upon  certain  peculiarities  of 
bodily  structure  or  endowment ;  and  we  have 
thereby  prepared  the  reader  to  admit,  that  if 
living  below  the  air  or  under  water,  requires 
a  peculiar   habit   or  organism,  so   also    does 


living  above  the  air  —  above  the  natural  ani- 
mus (uiefiog)  of  the  race,  require  answerable 
but  peculiar  endowments.  The  diver  and  the 
seer  are  inverse  correspondences. 

192-  "To  show  how  intelligent  Swedenborg 
was  of  these  deep  things,  we  have  only  to  ex- 
amine his  anatomical  works  and  manuscripts, 
which  present  a  regular  progress  of  ideas  on 
the  subject  of  respiration.  '  If  we  carefully 
attend  to  profound  thoughts,'  say  she,  '  we 
shall  find  that  lu/ten  we  draw  breath,  a  host  of 
ideas  rush  from  beneath  as  through  an  opened 
door  into  the  sphere  of  thought;  whereas 
when  we  hold  the  breath,  and  slowly  let  it  out, 
we  deeply  keep  the  while  in  the  tenor  of  our 
thought,  and  communicate  as  it  were  with  the 
higher  faculty  of  the  soul ;  as  I  have  observed 
in  my  own  person  times  out  of  numbei*.  Re- 
taining or  holding  back  the  breath  is  equiva- 
lent to  having  intercourse  with  the  soul :  at- 
tracting or  drawing  it  amounts  to  intercourse 
with  the  body.' 

193.  "  This  indeed  is  a  fact  so  common  that 
we  never  think  about  it :  so  near  to  natural 
life,  that  its  axioms  are  almost  too  substantial 
for  knowledge.  Not  to  go  so  profound  as  to 
the  intellectual  sphere,  we  may  remark  that 
all  fineness  of  bodily  work  —  all  that  in  art 
which  comes  out  of  the  infinite  delicacy  of 
manhood  as  contrasted  with  animality  —  re- 
quires a  corresponding  breathlessness  and  ex- 
piring. To  listen  attentively  to  the  finest  and 
least  obtrusive  sounds,  as  with  the  stethoscope 
to  the  murmurs  in  the  breast,  or  with  mouth 
and  ear  to  distant  music,  needs  a  hush  that 
breathing  disturbs ;  the  common  ear  has  to 
die,  and  be  born  again,  to  exercise  these  deli- 
cate attentions.  To  take  an  aim  at  a  rapid- 
flying  or  minute  object,  requires  in  like  man- 
ner a  breathless  time  and  a  steady  act :  the 
very  ]ndse  must  receive  from  the  stopped  lungs 
a  pressure  of  calm.  To  adjust  the  exquisite 
machinery  of  watches,  or  other  instruments, 
compels  in  the  manipulater  a  motionless  hover 
of  his  own  central  springs.  Even  to  see  and 
observe  with  an  eye  like  the  mind  itself,  ne- 
cessitates a  radiant  pause.  Again,  for  the 
negative  proof,  we  see  that  the  first  actions 
and  attempts  of  children  are  unsuccessful, 
being  too  quick,  and  full  moreover  of  confusing 
breaths :  the  life  has  not  fixed  aerial  space  to 
play  the  game,  but  the  scene  itself  flaps  and 
flutters  with  alien  wishes  and  thoughts.  In 
short,  the  whole  reverence  of  remark  and 
deed  depends  upon  the  above  conditions,  and 
we  lay  it  down  as  a  general  truth,  that  everi/ 
man  requires  to  educate  his  breath  for  his 
business.  Bodily  strength,  mental  strength, 
even  wisdom,  all  lean  upon  our  respirations ; 
and  Swedenborg's  case  is  but  a  striking  in-  ' 
stance  raising  to  a  very  visible  size  a  fact 
which  like  the  air  is  felt  and  wanted,  but  for 
the  most  part  not  perceived. 

19'4.  "  We  have  dwelt  upon  the  physical  part 
of  inspiration  and  aspiration,  because  with  the 


LIFE    A^'l)   WKITIXGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDEXBOKG. 


51 


subject  of  this  memoir,  body  was  always  con- 
nected with,  and  lundamcMital   to,  spirit ;    and 
therefore   it  is  biograpiiically  true   to  him,  to 
support  hisseership  by  its  physical  counterpart. 
■Mpreover  it  is  important  for  all  men  to  know 
how  much  lies  in  calm,  and  to  counsel  them 
{^whether  by  biography,  or  science,  it  matters 
J^ot,)  to  look  to  the  balance  of  their  life-breath, 
rfend   to  let   it  sometimes   incline,  as   it   ought, 
'towards  the  immortal  and  expiring  sideZ-^/ 

195.  "liut  if  Swedenborg  was  expressly 
constructed  and  prepared  for  spirit-seeing,  the 
end  developed  itself  in  a  measure  side  by  side 
with  the  means,  which  is  also  a  law  of  things. 
"We  have  seen  that  in  his  boyhood  his  parents 
used  to  declare  that  angels  spoke  through  his 
mouth,  which  again  calls  to  mind  the  en- 
tranced breaths  of  prayer  that  he  commemo- 
rates at  this  period.  Much  later  on,  but 
before  his  theological  mission  commenced,  we 
find  him  intellectually  aware  that  heaven  might 
be  entered  by  the  sons  of  earth,  and,  as  he 
then  thought,  by  the  analytic  method  of 
science,  which  having  arrived  on  some  of  the 
peaks  of  truth,  would  introduce  us  to  those 
who  are  at  home  in  that  region,  and  enable  us 
to  revert  with  a  kind  of  spiritual  sight  to  the 
world  from  which  we  had  ascended.  lie  says 
on  this  head,  that  '  knowledge  unless  derived 
from  first  principles  is  but  a  beggarly  and 
palliative  science,  sensual  in  its  nature,  not 
derived  from  the  world  of  causes,  but  animal, 
and  without  reason  ;  that  to  explore  causes, 
we  must  ascend  into  infinity,  and  then  and 
thence  we  may  descend  to ,  effects,  when  we 
iiave  first  ascended  from  effects  by  the  analyt- 
ic way.  P^urthermore,  that  by  this  means  we 
may  become  rational  beings,  men,  angels,  and 
may  be  among  the  latter,  when  we  shall  have 
explored  truths,  and  when  we  are  in  them  : 
tJiat  this  is  the  way  to  heaven,  to  tlie  primeval 
state  of  man,  to  perfection.'  This  is  doubtless 
a  bold  interpretation  of  induction  and  deduc- 
tion, but  no  one  knew  better  than  Swedenborg 
in  his  day,  whither  real  methods  would  con- 
duct us.  It  only  concerns  us  however  now  to 
show,  that  he  was  conscious  of  a  possible  en- 
trance for  the  undei'standing  into  the  atmos- 
pheres of  the  higher  world,  and  that  he  con- 
ceived it  to  lie  in  true  ladders  of  doctrine 
framed  by  good  men  out  of  true  sciences. 

196.  "  Some  of  the  phenomena  connected 
with  this  period  of  Swedenborg's  life,  which  go 
further  to  show  his  previous  and  gradual  prep- 
aration for  his  high  mission,  we  find  thus  at- 
tested by  him  at  the  very  time  they  were 
happening.  The  Fourth  Part  of  the  Animal 
Kingdom  (a  MS.  written,  lor  the  most  part, 
as  it  would  appear,  during  1744)  aifords  the 
Ibllowing  proofs.  At  p.  S'2  of  this  work  he 
has  the  following  Observandum  :  '  According 
to  admonition  heard,  I  must  refer  to  my  philo- 
sophical Principia  .  .  .  and  it  has  been 
tok'  me  that  by  that  means  I  shall  be  enabled 
to  airect  my  flight  whithersoever  I  will.'    Twice 


also  in  the  same  work  he  notifies  that  he  is 
commanded  to  write  what  he  is  penning.  At 
p.  194  he  mentions  that  he  saw  a  representation 
of  a  certain  golden  key  that  he  was  to  carry, 
to  open  the  door  to  spiritual  things.  At  p. 
202  he  remarks  at  the  end  of  a  paragraph, 
that  '  on  account  of  what  is  there  written 
there  ha[)pened  to  him  wonderful  things  on 
the  night  between  the  first  and  second  of 
July ; '  and  he  adds  in  the  margin,  that  the 
matter  set  down  was  '  foretold  to  him  in  a 
wonderful  manner  on  that  occasion.'  Still 
farther  on  (p.  215)  he  again  refers  to  his  ex- 
ti'aordinary  dream  of  the  above  date. 

197.  "Lastly,  there  is  one  doctrine  that 
Swedenborg  held,  and  which  constitutes  an  im- 
mediate link  between  intellect  and  reality, 
possession  with  which  would  contribute  to  pre- 
dispose to  spiritual  experience ;  we  mean  the 
doctrine  of  Universal  Correspondency.  To 
this  great  intellectual  subjec-t  we  shall  have 
to  recur  in  the  sequel,  but  for  the  present  it 
suffices  to  observe,  that  it  imports  that  bodies 
are  the  generation  and  expression  of  souls  ;  ■ 
that  the  frame  of  the  natural  world  works, 
moves  and  rests  obediently  to  the  living  spir- 
itual world,  as  a  man's  face  to  the  mind  or 
spirit  within.  Now  this  plainly  makes  all 
things  into  signs  as  well  as  powers  ;  the  events 
of  nature  and  the  world  become  divine,  angel- 
ic, or  demoniac  messages,  and  the  smallest 
things,  as  well  as  the  greatest,  are  omens,  in- 
structions, warnings,  or  hopes."  —  Wilkinson's 
Biography,  pp.  77-86. 

198.  We  have  now  mentioned  all  that  we 
know  of  the  most  remarkable  {)resages  of  Swe- 
denborg's illumination.  Though  this  knowl- 
edge is  not  very  extensive,  yet  it  is  sufficient 
to  indicate  a  very  long  and  gradual  course 
of  preparation,  from  infancy  to  full  maturity, 
for  the  great  privileges  and  important  duties 
which  were  to  devolve  upon  him. 

199.  Of  the  circumstances  attending  the  an- 
nouncement to  him  of  his  heavenly  mission, 
we  have  no  account  in  the  works  which  he 
himself  published.  In  these  indeed,  he  alludes 
to  himself  as  seldom  as  possible. 

Opening  of  Swedenborg's  spiritual  Sight. 

200.  We  are  now  prepared  to  contemplate 
the  full  transition  of  this  remarkable  man. 
from  the  greatest  of  philosophers  to  the  sublime 
height  of  spiritual  vision  which  he  ultimately 
attained.  Throughout  his  life,  as  we  havi' 
hitherto  detailed  it,  we  have  seen  a  continual 
tendency  from  the  natural  to  the  spiritual,  and 
it  is  by  no  means  the  least  interesting  part  of 
his  experience,  to  see  how  gradually  and  sys 
tematically  he  was  prepared  by  Divine  Provi 
dence  for  his  wonderful  work.  There  would 
seem  to  be,  in  the  very  ascent  itself,  stej)  by 
step,  up  the  high  ladder  of  Trutn,  with  its  foot 
resting  on  the  solid  foundations  of  material 
nature,  and  those  too  in  the  deep  mines  and 
rudiments  of  the  Mineral  Kingdom,  passing 


52 


LIFE   AND   WHITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


gradually  upwards  through  the  mysteries  of 
organic  nature,  to  the  human  soul  itself;  — 
there  would  seem  to  be,  in  such  an  ascent,  a 
testimony  of  that  God  who  formed,  fitted  and 
called  him,  to  his  truthful  and  glorious  mission. 
201.  "Although,  however,  this  opening  of 
the  spiritual  was  Swedenborg's  tendency  from 
the  first,  yet  plainly  he  never  anticipated 
either  the  manner  or  the  extent  of  it.  It 
would  seem  that  he  expected  the  kingdom  of 
God  to  come  upon  him  in  the  shape  of  clear 
principles  deduced  from  all  human  knowledge ; 
a  scientific  religion  resting  upon  nature  and 
revelation,  interpreted  by  analysis  and  synthe- 
sis, from  the  ground  of  a  pure  habit  and  a 
holy  life.  His  expectations  were  fulfilled,  not 
simply,  but  marvellously.  He  was  himself 
astonished  at  his  condition,  and  often  ex- 
pressed as  much.  '  I  never  thouglit,'  said  he, 
'  I  should  have  come  into  the  spiritual  state  in 
which  I  am,  but  the  Lord  had  prepared  me 
for  it,  in  order  to  reveal  the  spiritual  sense  of 
the  Word,  which  He  had  promised  in  the 
Prophets  and  the  Revelations.'  What  he 
thenceforth  claimed  to  have  received  and  to 
be  in  possession  of,  was  spiritual  sight,  spiritu- 
al illumination,  and  spiritual  powers  of  reason. 
And  certainly  in  turning  from  his  foregone 
life  to  that  which  now  occupies  us,  we  seem 
to  be  treating  of  another  person,  —  of  one  on 
whom  the  great  change  has  passed,  who  has 
tasted  the  blessings  of  death,  and  disburdened 
his  spiritual  part,  of  mundane  cares,  sciences 
and  philosophies.  The  spring  of  his  lofty 
flights  in  nature  sleeps  in  the  dust  beneath  his 
feet.  The  liberal  charm  of  his  rhetoric  is  put 
off,  never  to  be  resumed.  His  splendid  but 
unfinished  organon  is  never  to  be  used  again, 
but  its  wheel  and  essence  are  transferred  for 
other  applications.  It  is  a  clear  instance 
of  disembodiment  —  of  emancipation  from  a 
worldly  lifetime  ;  and  we  have  now  to  con- 
template Swedenborg,  still  a  mortal,  as  he  rose 
into  the  other  world.  From  that  elevation  he 
as  little  recurred  to  his  scientific  life,  though 
he  had  its  spirit  with  him,  as  a  freed  soul  to 
the  body  in  the  tomb:  he  only  possessed  it  in 
a  certain  high  memory,  which  offered  its  re- 
sult to  his  new  pursuits."  —  Wilkinson^s  Biog- 
raphy, pp.  73,  74. 

202.  We  give  the  particulars  which  now 
follow,  precisely  as  we  find  them,  leaving  to 
the  reader  perfect  freedom  to  interpret  them 
by  their  own  evidence.  The  simple  statement 
which  our  author  made  to  his  friend  Hartley 
respecting  his  new  and  "  holy  office,"  is  the  one 
which  he  was  accustomed  to  make  through  life. 

203.  "  I  have  been  called,"  says  he,  in  a 
letter  to  Dr.  Hartley,  dated  1769,  "to  a  holy 
office  by  tlie  Lord  himself,  who  has  most  gra- 
ciously manifested  himself  in  person  to  me, 
his  servant,  in  the  year  1743  ;  when  He 
opened  my  sight  to  the  view  of  the  spiritual 
world,  and  granted  me  the  privilege  of  con- 
versing with  spirits  and  angels,  which  I  enjoy 


to  this  day.  .  .  .  The  only  reason  of  my 
later  journeys  to  foreign  countries,  has  been 
the  desire  of  being  useful,  by  making  known 
the  secrets  intrusted  to  me." 

204.  Another  account  of  the  same  event 
has  been  related  by  M.  Robsahm,  who  inquired 
of  Swedenborg  where  and  how  his  revelations 
began.  "  I  was  in  London,"  said  Swedenborg, 
"  and  dined  late  at  my  usual  quarters,  where  I 
had  engaged  a  room,  in  which  at  pleasure  to 
prosecute  my  studies  in  natural  philosophy. 
I  was  hungry,  and  ate  with  great  appetite. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  meal  I  remarked  that 
a  kind  of  mist  spread  before  my  eyes,  and  I 
saw  the  floor  of  my  room  covered  with  hideous 
reptiles,  such  as  serpents,  toads  and  the  like. 
I  was  astonished,  having  all  my  wits  about 
me,  and  being  perfectly  conscious.  The  dark- 
ness attained  its  height  and  then  passed  away. 
I  now  saw  a  man  sitting  in  a  corner  of  the 
chamber.  As  I  had  thought  myself  entirely 
alone,  I  was  greatly  frightened  when  he  said 
to  me,  '  Eat  not  so  much  ! '  My  sight  again 
became  dim,  but  when  I  recovered  it  I  found 
myself  alone  in  my  room.  The  unexpected 
alarm  hastened  my  return  home.  I  did  not 
suffer  my  landlord  to  perceive  that  any  thing 
had  happened  ;  but  thought  it  over  attentively, 
and  was  not  able  to  attribute  it  to  chance,  or 
any  physical  cause.  I  went  home,  but  the 
following  night  the  same  man  appeared  to  me 
again.  I  was  this  time  not  at  all  alarmed.  - 
Tiie  man  said :  '  I  am  God,  the  Lord,  the 
Creator  and  Redeemer  of  the  world.  I  have 
chosen  thee  to  unfold  to  men  the  spiritual 
sense  of  the  Holy  Scriptuie.  I  will  myself 
dictate  to  thee  wiiat  thou  slialt  Avrite.'  The 
same  night  the  world  of  spirit;^,  hell  and  heav- 
en, were  convincingly  opened  to  me,  where  I 
found  many  persons  of  my  acquaintance  of  all 
conditions.  From  that  day  forth  I  gave  up 
all  worldly  learning,  and  labored  only  in  spir- 
itual things,  according  to  what  the  Lord  com- 
manded me  to  write.  Thereafter  the  Lord 
daily  opened  the  eyes  of  my  spirit,  to  see  in 
perfect  wakefulness  what  was  going  on  in  the 
other  world,  and  to  converse,  broad  awake, 
with  angels  and  spirits." 

205.  Dr.  Beyer  gives  a  third  narrative  of 
the  transaction.  "The  report,"  says  he,  "of 
the  Lord's  personally  appearing  before  the 
Assessor,  who  saw  Him  sitting  in  purple  and 
in  majestic  splendor  near  his  bed,  whilst  He 
gave  him  commission  what  to  do,  I  have  heard 
from  his  own  mouth,  wliilst  dining  with  him 
at  the  house  of  Dr.  Rosen,  where  I  saw,  for 
tlie  first  time,  the  venerable  old  man.  I  re- 
member to  have  asked  him  how  long  this  ap- 
pearance continued.  He  replied  that  it  lasted 
about  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  I  also  asked  him 
whether  the  vivid  splendor  did  not  pain  his 
eyes?  which  he  denied.  .  .  .  In  respect  to 
the  extraordinary  case  of  the  Lord  appearing 
to  him,  and  opening,  in  a  wonderful  marner, 
the  internal  and  spiritual  sight  of  His  servant, 


LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OF    EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


53 


so  as  to  enable  him  to  see  into  the  otlier  world, 
I  must  observe  that  this  opening  did  not  occur 
at  once,  but  by  degrees." 

2)6.  In  the  Diary,  vhe  same  event  appears 
to  be  related  as  follows  :  — 

^ji  Vision  by  Day,  concerning  those  wlio  are  de- 
voted to  the  i^able,  and  who  thus  indulge  the 
Flesh. 

In  the  middle  of  the  day,  at  dinner,  an  angel 
who  was  with  nie  conversed,  saying,  that  I  should 
not  indulge  the  belly  too  much  at  table.  Whilst 
he  was  with  me,  there  clearly  appeared  to  me,  as 
it  were,  a  vapor,  exuding  from  the  pores  of  the 
body,  lil<e  a  watery  vapor  [a  mist],  extremely  visible, 
which  fell  towards  the  earth  wliere  the  carpet  was, 
upon  which  the  vapor  being  collected,  was  changed 
into  various  little  worms,  which  being  collected 
under  the  table,  burnt  [or  flashed]  off  in  a  moment 
with  a  noise  or  sound.  Seeing  a  fiery  li<jlit  in 
tliis  vapor,  and  hearing  a  sound,  I  thouglit  that 
thus  all  the  worms  which  could  be  generated  from 
an  immoderate  appetite,  were  ejected  from  my 
body,  and  thus  burnt,  and  that  I  was  tlien  purified 
frjm  them.  Hence  it  could  be  concluded  [from 
these  representatives]  what  luxuries  and  similar 
things  carry  in  their  bosom.  —  S.  D.  397. 

207.  "  If  this  indeed  was  the  first  occasion 
of  Swedenborg's  open  intercoui'se  with  beings 
of  the  other  world,  it  would  strike  us  at  first  as 
unwortiiy  of  the  great  object  in  view.  And 
yet  when  we  consider  that  Swedenborg  must 
have  been  at  this  time  in  a  state  all  but  fully 
prepared  for  the  favor  which  was  to  be  grant- 
ed him — that  his  mind  must  have  very  near- 
ly attained  the  necessary  expansion,  purilica- 
tion,  and  elevation  —  that  he  had  already  felt 
and  perceived  many  signs  of  the  spiritual 
world  around  him,  and  yet  had  no  conception 
of  the  actual  presence  and  influence  of  spirits 
near  his  spirit  —  it  would  seem  that  what 
chiefly  remained  to  be  done,  was  to  show  him 
the  existence  of  his  spiritual  senses,  as  distinct 
from  and  superior  to  those  of  the  body.  And 
in  what  other  way  could  this  so  well  be  done, 
as  by  allowing  the  bodily  senses  to  replete 
themselves  even  to  gross  satiety,  and  by  thus 
enabling  the  spiritual  mind,  moved  by  Heav- 
enly influence,  to  revolt  from  them,  to  see 
them  in  their  grossness  with  their  downward 
tendencies,  and  to  open  its  unsealed  eyes  up- 
ward to  the  real  spiritual  influences  around  it? 
The  first  voice,  the  first  lesson  would  then  in- 
deed be  to  restrain  the  bodily  appetites  within 
their  proper  bounds  ;  but  the  knowledge  of 
their  subordinate  station  would  not  be  forgot- 
ten, and  thereafter  there  would  be  a  readiness 
to  perceive  and  understand  the  influence  of 
spirits  whenever  it  was  allowed."  —  HoharCs 
Life,  p.  69. 

208.  With  regard  to  this  circumstance  of 
the  personal  appearance  of  the  Lord  to  Swe- 
denborg, some  doubt  may  be  felt  in  the  nat- 
ural mind,  and  indeed,  in  many  minds  of  a 
superior  Christian  order,  from  the  supposed 
inconsistency  of  such  an  appearance  to  any 
mortal,  except  perhaps  to  the  patriarchs  and 
prophets,  and  to  the  immediate  disciples  and 


apostles  of  Christ.  But  may  not  the  occasion 
of  these  doubts  be  greatly,  if  not  entirely  re- 
moved, by  a  correct  understanding  of  wha*' 
Swedenborg  may  here  mean  ?  He  says  in- 
deed, in  several  ])laces,  both  in  his  letters  and 
in  his  published  works,  that  the  Lord  appeared 
to  him  in  person.  But  it  will  be  noted  that 
in  his  Diary,  above  (pioted,  it  is  said,  "  In  the 
middle  of  the  da}',  at  dinner,  an  aiiffel  sj)oke 
to  me,"  &c.  It  is  indeed  said,  by  Mr. 
Robsahm,  who  professes  to  have  had  the  ac- 
count from  Swedenborg's  own  mouth,  that 
this  same  man,  or  anyel,  appeared  again  the 
following  night,  and  announced  himself  as 
"  God,  the  Lord,  the  Creator  and  Redeemer 
of  the  world."  And  Dr.  Beyer,  also  another 
like  witness  from  '  Swedenborg  himself,  con- 
firms the  account  that  tlie  Lord  in  person  ap- 
peared to  him.  But  "  whether,"  (says  Hobart 
in  his  Life  of  Swedenborg,)  "  Robsahm  is 
correct  in  saying  that  this  was  the  '  same 
Man,'  and  on  the  '  following  night,'  we  doubt 
for  this  reason,  among  others,  that  in  the 
Diary,  the  Man  is  called  in  one  case  'a  spirit,' 
and  in  the  other  '  an  angel.'  " 

209.  Barrett,  in  his  Life  of  Swedenborg, 
makes  the  following  observations.  "  There  is 
an  account  given  of  Swedenborg's  first  illumi- 
nation or  introduction  into  the  spiritual  world, 
which  has  been  attached  to  the  prefaces  of 
some  of  the  early  translations  of  his  work. 
In  this  account  it  is  represented  that  his  il- 
lumination took  place  at  an  inn,  in  London, 
while  at  dinner.  But  there  is  no  mention 
made  of  this  circumstance  in  any  of  his 
writings,  and  it  has  been  ascertained  that  there 
never  was  any  a(!count  of  the  afiair  printed 
until  it  first  a[)[)eared  in  the  preface  to  a 
translation  in  French  of  the  treatise  on  Heaven 
and  Hell,  which  was  printed  many  years  after 
Swedenborg's  death.  Other  circumstances  rel- 
ative to  Swedenborg  are  told  in  the  same 
preface,  which  ar<i  distinctly  ascertained  to  be 
untrue.  This,  together  with  the  fact  that  the 
statement  first  api)eared  in  France,  where  lit- 
tle was  known  at  that  time  of  Swedenborg 
and  his  writings,  is  suliicient  to  weaken  its 
credibility.  But  there  is  a  general  impres- 
sion among  the  receivers  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  New  Church,  that  the  narrative,  as  there 
given,  is  in  itself  improbable,  and  that  although 
it  may  be  in  some  respects  true,  it  is  never- 
theless in  its  detail  incorrectly  stated."  —  Baf- 
rett's  Life,  pp.  39,  40. 

210.  From  the  whole,  whether  it  was  a 
spirit,  an  angel,  or  the  Lord  himself,  who  Jirst 
appeared  to  Swedenborg,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  his  meaning  in  after  and  repeated 
asseverations,  that  the  Lord  himself  appeared 
to  him,  and  called  him  to  his  holy  olhce.  His 
testimony  on  this  head  is  as  follows  :  — 

"Since  the  Lord  cannot  manifest  Himself  in 
person,  as  has  been  shown  just  above,  and  yet  He 
has  foretold  that  He  would  come  and  establish  a 
New  Church,  which  is  the  New  Jerusalem,  it  fol- 


51 


LITE   AXD   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


lows,  that  he  is  to  do  it  by  means  of  a  man,  who  is 
able  not  only  to  receive  the  doctrines  of  this 
church  with  his  understanding,  but  also  to  publish 
them  by  the  press.  That  the  Lord  has  manifested 
Himself  before  ir.e,  his  servant,  and  sent  me  on 
this  office,  and  that,  after  this,  he  opened  the  sight 
of  my  spirit,  a-nd  thus  let  me  into  the  spiritual 
world,  and  gave  me  to  sec  the  heavens  and  the 
hells,  and  also  to  speak  with  angels  and  spirits, 
and  this  now  continually  for  many  years,  I  testify 
in  truth,  and  also  that,  from  the  first  day  of  that 
call,  I  have  not  received  any  thing  which  pertains 
to  the  doctrines  of  that  church  from  any  angel, 
but  from  the  Lord  alone,  while  I  read  the  Word. 

"To  the  end  that  the  Lord  might  be  constantly 
present,  he  has  disclosed  to  me  the  spiritual  sense 
of  his  Word,  in  which  divine  truth  is  in  its  light, 
and  in  this  He  is  continually  present."  —  T.  C. 
R.,  779, 760. 

211.  Again,  in  his  letter  to  Dr.  Oettinger,  — 
"  I  can  sacredly  and  solemnly  declare,  that  the 

Lord  liimself  has  been  seen  of  me,  and  that  he 
has  sent  me  to  do  what  I  do,  and  for  such  purpose 
has  he  opened  and  enlightened  the  interior  part  of 
my  soul,  which  is  my  spirit,  so  that  I  can  see  what 
is  in  the  spiritual  world,  and  those  that  are  there- 
in ;  and  this  privilege  has  now  been  continued  to 
me  for  twenty-two  years.  But  in  the  present  state 
of  infidelity,  can  the  most  solemn  oath  make  sucli  a 
thing  credible,  or  to  be  believed  by  any  ?  Yet 
such  as  have  received  true  Christian  light  and  un- 
derstanding, will  be  convinced  of  the  truth  con- 
tained in  my  writings,  which  are  particularly  evi- 
dent in  the  book  of  the  Aporahjpsc  Revealed. 
Who,  indeed,  has  hitherto  known  any  thing  of 
consideration  of  the  true  spiritual  sense  and  mean- 
ing of  the  Word  of  God,  the  spiritual  world,  or  of 
heaven  and  hell ;  the  nature  of  tlie  life  of  man, 
and  the  state  of  souls  after  the  decease  of  the 
body  ?  Is  it  to  be  supposed,  that  these  and  other 
things  of  a  like  consequence  are  to  be  eternally 
hidden  from  Christians?"  —  Documents  concern- 
ing the  Lift  and  Character  of  Swedenborg,  p.  152. 

212.  But  suppose  that  at  first  this  appear- 
ance was  that  of  an  angel.  And  indeed,  sup- 
pose that  ever  afterwards,  it  was  the  Lord  in 
an  angel.  This  is  the  reflection  which  we 
wish  to  make :  and  it  is  here  that  the  first  and 
all  the  subsequent  accounts  of  such  appear- 
ance may  possibly  be  reconciled  together. 
Swedenborg  mai/  not  have  known,  at  first,  nor 
thought,  any  thing  to  the  contrary  that  it  was 
a  spirit  or  angel  who  appeared  to  him  :  for  it 
does  not  appear  that  he  was  yet  made  aware 
of  his  mission.  But  whether  he  did  or  not, 
and  whether  it  was  or  not,  we  are  not  at  all 
strenuous  to  make  out.  Let  him  tell  his  own 
story.  He  says,  in  his  letter  to  Dr.  Hartley, 
"  the  Lord  himself  manifested  himself  in  per- 
son to  him  in  1743;"  and  in  his  Diary,  which 
appears  to  have  reference  to  the  same  event, 
he  says  "an  angel"  and  "a  spirit  "  spake  to 
him.  Now  suppose  that  in  each  and  every 
instance  it  was  an  angelic  appearance.  Then 
the  accounts  may  be  perfectly  consistent,  for 
Swedenborg  invariably  says  that  this  is  the 
way  the  Lord  appeared  to  the  Patriarchs  and 
Prophets.  Take,  for  instance,  the  following 
passage  from  the  Arcana  Coelestia:  — 

213.  "The  Angel  of  Jehovah  is  sometimes  men- 


tioned in  the  Word,  and  every  where,  when  in  a  good 
sense,  represents  and  signifies  some  essential  ap- 
pertaining to  the  Lord,  and  proceeding  from  him  ; 
but  what  is  represented  and  signified  may  appear 
from  the  series.  There  were  angels  who  Avere 
sent  to  men,  and  who  also  spake  by  the  prophets, 
but  what  they  spake  was  not  from  the  angels,  but 
by  them  :  for  their  state  then  was,  that  they  knew 
no  otherwise  than  that  they  were  Jehovah,  that  is, 
the  Lord  :  nevertheless,  when  they  had  done  speak- 
ing, they  presently  returned  into  their  former 
state,  and  spake  as  from  tiiemselves.  This  was 
the  case  with  the  angels  who  spake  the  Word  of 
the  Lord ;  which  has  been  given  me  to  know  by 
much  experience  of  a  similar  kind  at  this  day  in 
the  other  life ;  concerning  which,  by  the  divine 
mercy  of  the  Lord,  we  shall  speak  hereafter.  This 
is  the  reason  that  the  angels  were  sometimes 
called  Jehovah  ;  as  was  evidently  the  case  with 
the  angel  who  appeared  to  Moses  in  the  bush,  of 
whom  it  is  thus  written,  '  The  angel  of  Jehovah 
appeared  unto  him  in  a  flame  of  fire  out  of  the 
midst  of  the  bush.  And  when  Jehovah  saw  that 
he  turned  aside  to  see,  God  called  unto  him  out  of 
the  midst  of  the  bush.  —  God  said  unto  Moses,  I 
am  that  1  am.  —  And  God  said  moreover  unto 
Moses,  Thus  shalt  tliou  say  unto  the  children  of 
Israel,  Jehovah  God  of  your  fathers  hath  sent  me 
unto  you'  (Exod.  iii.  2,  4,  14,  15);  from  which 
words  it  is  evident,  that  it  was  an  angel  who  ap- 
peared to  Moses  as  a  flame  in  the  bush,  and  that 
he  spake  as  Jehovah,  because  the  Lord,  or  Jeho- 
vah spake  by  him.  For,  in  order  that  man  may  be 
spoken  to  by  vocal  expressions,  which  are  articu- 
late sounds,  in  the  ultimates  of  nature,  the  Lord 
uses  the  ministry  of  angels,  by  filling  them  with 
the  divine,  and  by  laying  asleep  what  is  of  their 
own  proprium,  so  that  they  know  no  otherwise  tinm 
that  they  are  Jehovah :  thus  the  divine  of  Jehovah, 
which  is  in  the  supremes,  descends  into  the  lowest 
of  nature,  in  which  man  is  as  to  sight  and  hear- 
ing. Hence  it  may  appear  how  the  angels  spake 
by  the  prophets,  viz.,  that  the  Lord  liimself  spake, 
although  by  angels,  and  that  the  angels  did  not 
speak  at  all  from  themselves.  That  the  Word  is 
from  the  Lord,  appears  from  many  passages  ;  as  in 
Matthew:  'That  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was 
spoken  of  the  Lord  by  the  prophet,  saying.  Be- 
hold, a  virgin  shall  bear  in  the  womb,  and  shall 
bring  forth  a  son '  (i.  22,  23) ;  besides  other  pas- 
sages. Because  the  Lord  speaks  by  angels  when 
he  speaks  with  man,  it  is  hence  that  he  is  through- 
out the  Word  called  an  angel :  and  then  by  an 
angel  is  signified,  as  was  said,  some  essential  ap- 
pertaining to  the  Lord,  and  proceeding  from  the 
Lord."  —  A.  C.  1925. 

214.  Such  is  Swedenborg's  invariable  teach- 
ing with  regard  to  the  appearance  of  the  Lord 
before  the  Incarnation.  Now,  whether  or 
not,  after  the  Incarnation,  He  Lad  power,  and 
did  really  exercise  it,  in  a '  personal  appear- 
ance to  Swedenborg,  out  of  an  angel,  is  a 
question  we  do  not  care  to  settle.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  particulars  of  His  first 
manifestation  to  him,  are  somewhat  involved 
in  obscurity.  We  only  make  these  sugges- 
tions as  to  the  manner  of  the  Lord's  appear- 
ance, both  for  the  purpose  of  reconciling  what 
may  otherwise  appear  as  somewhat  discrepant, 
and  to  remove  any  doubts  which  may  be  felt 
as  to  the  consistency  and  rationality  of  our 
authox-'s  claim.     We  have  seen,  according  to 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


Swedenborg's  own  showing,  that  the  Lord 
might  a[)pear  to  him,  by  infilhng  an  angel 
with  His  spirit  and  presence.  This  is  both  a 
true  and  a  rational  doctrine  of  such  Theo- 
phanic  appearances. 

215.  AV'e  can  certainly  accord  to  Sweden- 
borg  as  high  a  manifestation  as  is  possible  to 
be  made  to  any  man.  Only  let  the  facts  be 
given,  and  let  every  reader  have  full  freedom 
iu  interpretation.     He  says  himself,  — 

"When  the  Lord  appears  in  heaven,  which  is 
often  the  case,  He  does  not  appear  encompassed 
with  his  sun,  but  in  angelic  form,  distinguished 
from  the  angels  by  the  Divine  beaming  through  his 
face :  for  He  is  not  there  in  person,  for  the  Lord 
in  person  is  constantly  surrounded  with  the  spirit- 
ual sun,  but  he  is  in  presence  by  aspect ;  for  in 
heaven  it  is  common  for  them  to  appear  as  present 
in  the  place  where  the  aspect  is  fired  or  terminated, 
although  it  be  very  far  from  the  place  where  they 
actually  are.  The  Lord  has  been  seen  by  me  out 
of  the  sun  [of  heaven],  in  an  angelic  form,  a  little 
beneath  tiie  sun's  altitude  ;  and  likewise  near  at 
hand  in  a  similar  form,  and  with  a  lucid  counte- 
nance ;  once,  also,  as  a  radiant  sunlight  in  the 
midst  of  the  angels."  —  H.  H.  V2\. 

216.  It  is  most  judiciously  observed  by 
Rich,  in  his  Biographical  Sketch,  —  "  No  one 
was  better  aware  than  Swedenborg  that  man 
cannot  see  the  Lord  as  He  really  is,  and  live, 
for  the  effulgence  of  His  Divine  Love  and 
Divine  Wisdom  is  such  that  it  would  be  like 
a  body  falling  into  the  sun:  even  the  angels, 
Aie  says,  are  veiled  with  a  thin  cloud  or  sphere, 
and  the  first  proceeding  of  the  divine  sun  is 
retained  in  radiant  belts  around  it  instead  of 
entering  heaven.  When  he  declares,  there- 
fore, that  the  Lord  has  manifested  Himself  to 
him,  he  is  far  from  presuming  to  claim  an  ir- 
reverent familiarity  with  the  high  and  lofty 
One  who  inhabiteth  eternity.  All  the  cir- 
cumstances attending  such  manifestation,  so 
iar  as  we  can  infer  them  from  his  doctrine  of 
the  Lord,  his  explanations  of  other  Theo- 
phanic  appearances,  and  the  few  particulars 
he  has  recorded  of  his  experience  in  this 
respect,  are  precisely  such  as  the  Scripture 
itself  warrants  ;  and  when  we  reflect  that  the 
Israelitish  Church  was  instituted  through  the 
medium  of  visions  and  Divine  appearances  ; 
and  the  lirst  Christian  Church  in  like  manner  ; 
it  will  a[)pear  no  more  than  reasonable  and 
consistent  that  any  subsequent  revelation 
should  receive  the  same  sanction,  or  spring 
from  a  like  source.  When  the  Lord  -was  in 
the  world  He  foretold  his  manifestation  at  a 
future  period,  —  at  the  consummation  of  the 
age,  or  order  of  things  then  commenced  ;  and 
all  the  evidence  of  Scripture  would  go  to 
ishow  tliat  the  new  age  was  to  begin  and  con- 
tinue its  course  in  open  vision."  —  pp.  1)5,  9G. 

217.  '•  The  public,  perhaps,  are  hardly  pre- 
pared to  admit  the  reality  of  visions  and  spir- 
itual associations  at  the  present  day,  though 
it  is  undeniable  that  some  of  the  phenomena 
oi  Clairvoyancj  a'e  sufficiently  remarkable ; 


while  it  is  admitted,  however,  that  extraor- 
dinary gifts  and  communications  were  en- 
joyed in  the  apostolic  age,  there  is  abundant 
evidence  that  they  have  never  absolutely 
ceased.  '  The  apostolical  fathers,  Barnabas, 
Clement,  and  Hernias,  (whose  writings  were 
reverenced  as  of  canonical  authority  for  four 
hundred  years,  and  were  read  together  with 
the  canonical  Scriptures  in  many  of  the 
churches),  confirm  the  truth  of  prophecy,  di- 
vine visions,  and  miraculous  gifts  continuing 
in  the  church  after  the  apostolical  age,  both  by 
their  testimony  and  experience ;  and  to  i)ass 
over  many  other  venerable  names,  (among 
whom  Tertullian  and  Origen  are  witnesses  to 
the  same  truth  afterwards),  Eusebius,  Cyprian, 
Lactantius,  still  lower  down,  declare  that 
extraordinary  divine  manifestations  were  not 
uncommon  in  their  days.  Cyprian  is  very 
express  on  this  subject,  praising  God  on  that 
behalf,  with  respect  to  himself,  to  divers  of 
the  clergy,  and  many  of  the  people,  using 
these  words  :  "  The  discipline  of  God  over  us 
never  ceases  by  night  and  by  day  to  correct 
and  reprove  ;  for  not  only  by  visions  of  the 
night,  but  also  by  day,  even  the  innocent  age 
of  children  among  us  is  filled  loith  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  they  see,  and  hear,  and  speak  in 
ecstasy,  such  things  as  the  Lord  vouchsafes  to 
admonish  and  instruct  us  by:"  Epist.  1(5. 
Evidence  of  this  kind  might  be  multiplied  to 
volumes,  but  the  most  we  can  do  within  our 
present  limits  is  to  remind  the  reader  of  its 
existence  ;  and  that  such  visions  are  not  ex- 
ceptions to  the  true  order  of  human  life,  but 
proper  to  it.  Hence  even  the  gentile  patri- 
archs and  philosophers,  as  well  as  the  proph- 
ets, the  apostles,  and  the  fathers  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  have  had  their  eyes  opened  from 
time  to  time,  and  been  permitted  to  enjoy  a 
foretaste  of  immortal  life.  '  Where  there  is 
no  vision,'  says  the  Word,  '  The  people  per- 
ish.' And  therefore  it  is  promised  in  Joel 
that  the  Lord's  Spirit  shall  be  upon  all  flesh 
in  the  latter  days :  '  Your  sons  and  your 
daughters  shall  prophesy,  your  old  men  sliall 
dream  dreams,  your  young  men  shall  see 
visions.  And  also  upon  the  servants  and 
upon  the  handmaids  in  those  days  will  I  pour 
out  my  spirit.' 

218.  "  For  much  of  the  prevailing  scepticism 
the  church  herself  is  primarily  to  blame,  hav- 
ing provoked  the  enmity  of  the  natural  man 
by  opjjosing  unscriptural  and  irrational  doc- 
trines to  the  development  of  human  under- 
standing. It  is  obvious,  for  example,  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  natural 
body,  has  a  tendency  to  bring  her  creed  into 
immediate  competition  with  experimental  phi- 
losophy ;  when  it  should  rather  be  reserved 
to  lead  the  understanding  and  the  will  where 
science  fails  both,  and  to  command  the  sub- 
jects of  human  controversy  from  a  purer 
sphere.  But  the  church  is  sceptical  too. 
There  is  as  much  unbelief  amongst  the  clergy 


56 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


as,  number  for  number,  in  any  class  of  the 
community  whatever.  Tliey  have  no  faith  in 
vision  because  they  have  no  faitli  in  man's 
spiritual  life ;  they  have  no  faith  in  spiritual 
life  because  they  have  no  knowledge  of  the 
soul ;  and  the  proof  of  this  is  seen  in  the 
tenacity  with  which  they  cling  to  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body  at  some  future  period, 
instead  of  recognizing  the  lesson  contained 
in  the  divine  promise  to  the  repentant  male- 
factor, '■This  day  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in 
Paradise,'  and  the  plain  declaration  that  God 
is  not  the  God  of  the  dead  but  of  the  living. 
We  say  the  clergy  as  a  body  are  totally  desti- 
tute of  that  earnest,  consistent,  and  practical 
faith  in  the  reality  of  the  other  life  which 
ought  to  distinguish  the  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  we  ground  this  observation,  —  not  on 
their  indilFerence  to  Swedenborg's  disclosures, 
—  though  it  is  a  sad  reflection,  —  but  on  the 
absolute  erasure  of  the  state  of  vision  from 
tlieir  credenda.  Well  may  the  poet,  after 
glancing  at  the  times  '  when  angels  looked 
through  human  eyes,'  and  even  little  children, 
as  Cyprian  bears  witness,  were  filled  with  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  saw,  and  heard,  and  s^xtke  in 
ecstasy,  well  may  he  sadly  exclaim  — 

'  But  changed,  alas,  is  nature  now, 
Her  soul  is  bound  in  chains  ; 
And  in  her  heart,  and  on  her  brow, 
Perpetual  darkness  reigns. 
The  beaming  eyes  of  God  no  more 
Their  gladdening  influence  shed, 
And  there,  where  angels  shone  before, 
Are  dull,  dark  clouds  instead. 
And  should  a  gleam  of  heaven  appear 
Before  faith's  anxious  sight,  — 
And  should  angelic  music  here 
Fall  lightly  on  the  listening  ear, 
'Tis  deemed  delusion  quite. 
And  should  a  smile  from  God  again 
To  praying  saint  be  given,  — 
Full  of  benignity,  as  when 
Of  old.  He  smiled,  —  the  bigot's  pen, 
Spurns  such  idea  of  heaven ! '  " 

RicKs  Sketch,  pp.  83-85. 

But  we  must  not  detain  the  reader  from  the 
immediate  subject  of  this  memoir. 

219.  There  has  been  some  confusion  as  to 
the  year  in  which  Swedenborg's  open  inter- 
course with  spirits  commenced ;  it  is  called  by 
several  authorities,  1743,  but  it  is  now  gener- 
ally thought  to  be  1745,  while  he  was  in  Lon- 
don. In  the  Adversaria  and  Diary,  the  mid- 
dle of  April  1745  is  frequently  indicated  as 
the  date  of  the  commencement  of  this  inter- 
course. From  this  time,  with  the  exception 
of  a  month  not  long  after,  while  he  was  trav- 
elling, the  intercourse  continued  daily  for 
about  twenty-seven  years.  At  first  the  visions 
occurred  mostly  in  the  evening  and  early 
morning,  but  afterwards  they  grew  more  fre- 
quent or  of  longer  continuance. 

Swedenborg's  Divine  Call. 

220.  Respecting  the  reasons  for  Sweden- 
borg's "  call,'   we  give  them  in  his  own  words. 


''  I  was  once  asked,"  he  says,  "  how  I,  a  philoso- 
pher, became  a  theologian.  My  reply  was : 
In  the  same  way  that  fishermen  became  the 
disciples  and  apostles  of  the  Lord.  And  I 
added,  that  I,  too,  from  early  youth  had  heen  a 
spiritual  fisherman.  On  this,  my  inquirer 
asked  what  I  meant  by  a  spiritual  fisherman. 
To  which  I  answered,  that  a  fisherman  in  the 
spiritual  sense  of  the  Word,  signifies  one  who 
rationally  investigates  and  teaches  natural 
truths,  and  afterwards  spiritual  truths.  .  .  . 
My  interrogator  then  said :  Now  I  can  under- 
stand why  the  Lord  chose  fishermen  for  dis- 
ciples ;  and  therefore  I  do  not  wonder  that  he 
has  also  chosen  you ;  since,  as  you  observed,, 
you  were  from  eaidy  youth  a  fisherman  in  a 
spiritual  sense,  or  an  investigator  of  natural 
truths  ;  and  the  reason  that  you  are  now  an 
investigator  of  spiritual  truths,  is,  because  the 
latter  are  founded  upon  the  former.  .  .  .  At 
last  he  said :  Since  you  have  become  a  divine, 
what  is  your  system  of  divinity?  These  are 
its  two  principles,  said  I,  that  God  is  one, 
and  that  there  is  a  conjunction  of  char- 
ity AND  faith.  He  replied,  Wlio  denies 
these  principles  ?  I  rejoined,  the  divinity  of 
the  present  day,  when  inwardly  examined." 

221.  "Every  one  (says  Swedenborg,  in  a 
letter  to  Dr.  Oettinger)  is  morally  educated 
and  spiritually  regenerated  by  the  Lord,  by 
being  led  from  what  is  natural  to  what  is  spir- 
itual. Moreover,  the  Lord  has  given  unto 
me  a  love  of  spiritual  truth,  that  is  to  say,  not 
with  any  view  to  honor  or  profit,  but  merely 
for  the  sake  of  truth  itself;  for  every  one  who 
loves  truth,  merely  for  the  sake  of  truth,  sees 
it  from  the  Lord,  the  Lord  being  the  way  and 
the  truth.  See  John  xiv.  6.  But  he  who 
professes  the  love  of  truth  for  the  sake  of 
honor  or  gain,  sees  truth  from  his  own  self- 
hood, and  to  see  from  one's  self,  is  to  see  fal- 
sity. The  confirmation  of  falsehood  shuts 
the  church,  but  a  rational  confirmation  of  truth 
opens  it ;  what  man  can  otherwise  compre- 
hend spiritual  things,  which  enter  into  the  un- 
derstanding? The  doctrinal  notion  received 
in  the  protestant  church,  viz.,  that  in  theo- 
logical matters,  reason  should  be  held  captive 
under  obedience  to  faith,  locks  up  the  church  ; 
what  can  open  it,  but  an  undei'standing  en- 
lightened by  the  Lord  ? 

222.  "The  character  of  Swedenborg's  illu- 
mination cannot,  perhaps,  in  the  present  state 
of  the  church,  be  fully  understood.  He  ac- 
knowledges himself  to  have  been  but  a  mere 
secYant  of  the  Lord  in  all  he  wrote.  But  in  all 
that  he  has  written  his  rational  principle  was 
operative  and  instrumental  in  giving  form  to 
the  truths  which  were  revealed  through  him  : 
whereas  the  prophets,  according  to  his  ac- 
count, wrote  what  was  dictated  to  them,  and 
received  and  conveyed  truths  to  the  world 
without  understanding  their  import ;  what 
they  communicated  passed  not  through  their 
internal    but   tlirough   their    external   minds- 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


57 


Hence  their  writings  did  not  belong  to  them 
—  made  no  part  of  them  —  but  proceeded  im- 
mediately from  the  Lord,  and  were  infinitely 
holy.  But  to  the  writers  themselves  no  holi- 
ness is  to  be  attached. 

223.  "  It  is  difficult,  for  those  who  do  not 
reflect  deeply,  to  separate  in  their  minds  the 
sanctity  of  the  Word  from  the  persons  named 
in  it,  and  from  the  persons  who,  by  dictation, 
wrote  it ;  but  this  is  easily  done  when  the  s])irit- 
ual  and  divine  sense  of  the  Word  is  received 
and  understood.  From  this  view  of  the  subject 
it  may  ai){)ear,  that  Swedenborg's  writings  bear 
no  comparison  with  the  Word  or  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures, as  the  former  are  finite  and  the  latter 
infinite  :  also,  that  Swedenborg's  position  was 
entirely  different  from  that  of  the  prophets, 
as  the  former  received  revealed  truths  into 
his  rational  principle  and  communicated  them 
to  the  world,  having  an  understanding  of  their 
meaning  and  quality;  while  the  latter  received 
and  communicated  Divine  Truth,  of  the  quali- 
ty and  import  of  which  they  were  almost  en- 
tirely ignorant.  Spiritual  truths  appeared  to 
the  latter  miraculous,  to  the  former,  as  above 
miracles-  But  concerning  the  difference  of 
illumination  between  Swedenborg  and  the 
prophets,  evangelists,  &;c.,  and  more  particu- 
larly the  men  of  the  most  ancient  churcli,  a 
better  idea  may  be  had  in  an  extract  from  his 
diary  on  the  subject  of  miracles  :  — 

' '  Instead  of  miracles  there  has  taken  place  at 
the  present  day  an  open  manifestation  of  the  Lord 
Himself,  an  intromission  into  the  spiritual  world, 
and  with  it  illumination  by  immediate  light  from 
the  Lord  in  whatever  relates  to  the  interior  things 
of  the  church,  but  principally  an  opening  of  the 
spiritual  sense  of  the  Word,  in  which  the  Lord  is 
present  in  his  own  Divine  Light.  These  revela- 
tions are  not  miracles,  because  every  man  as  to 
his  spirit  is  in  the  spiritual  world,  without  separa- 
tion from  his  body  in  the  natural  world.  As  to 
myself,  indeed,  my  presence  in  the  spiritual  world 
is  attended  with  a  certain  separation,  but  only  as 
to  the  intellectual  part  of  my  mind,  not  as  to  the 
will  part.  This  manifestation  of  the  Lord,  and 
intromission  into  the  spiritual  world,  is  more  ex- 
cellent than  all  miracles ;  but  it  has  not  been 
granted  to  any  one  since  the  creation  of  the  world 
05  it  has  been  to  me.  The  men  of  the  golden 
age  indeed  conversed  with  angels  ;  but  it  was  not 
granted  to  them  to  be  in  any  other  light  than  what 
is  natural.  To  me,  however,  it  has  been  granted 
to  be  in  both  spiritual  and  natural  light  at  the 
same  time  ;  and  hereby  I  have  been  privileged  to 
see  the  wonderful  things  of  heaven,  to  be  in  com- 
pany with  angels,  just  as  I  am  with  men,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  pursue  truths  in  the  light  of 
truth,  and  thus  to  perceive  and  be  gifted  with 
them,  consequently  to  be  led  by  the  Lord.' " 

22-4.  In  the  letter  to  Dr.  Oettinger,  above 
referred  to,  he  says  —  "  To  your  interrogation, 
Whether  there  is  occasion  for  ani/  siffn  that  I 
am  sent  by  the  Lord  to  do  what  I  do?  1  an 
swer,  that  at  this  day  no  signs  or  miracles  will  . 
be  given,  because  they  compel  only  an  exter- 
nal belief,  but  do  not  convince  the  internal. 
What  did  the  miracles  avail  in  Egypt,  or 
among  the  Jewish  nation,  who  nevertheless 
8 


crucified  the  Lord  ?  So,  if  the  Lord  was  to 
appear  now  in  the  sky,  attended  with  angels  and 
trumpets,  it  would  have  no  other  effect  than 
it  had  then.  See  Luke  xvi.  29-3L  The 
sign  given  at  this  day,  will  be  an  illustration^ 
and  thence  a  knoivledge  and  reception  of  the 
truths  of  the  New  Church :  some  speaking  il- 
lustration of  certain  persons  may  likewise  take 
place  ;  this  works  more  effectually  than  mira- 
cles :  yet  one  token  may  perhaps  still  he  given." 

First  Preparations  for  his  new  Mission. 

225.  After  having  been  "  called  to  a  holy- 
office  by  the  Lord  himself,"  Swedenborg  at  once 
girded  himself  to  the  work  of  his  new  commis- 
sion. Negatively,  he  had  already  one  im- 
portant qualification  for  it,  he  had  read  no 
dogmatic  or  systematic  theology,  and  had, 
therefore,  in  a  large,  but  measurable  degree, 
none  of  its  "  unfounded  opinions  and  inven- 
tions "  in  his  mind  to  be  extirpated.  There 
are,  however,  evidences  in  his  Diary,  that  he 
had  some  opinions  belonging  to  the  crude  the- 
ology of  his  day,  which  he  successively  got 
rid  of.  But  now,  after  the  divine  call  which 
he  had  received,  he  a])plied  himself  to  the 
task  of  preparation  in  right  earnest.  He  learnt 
the  Hebrew  language,  and  read  over  the  Word 
of  God  many  times,  studying  its  principal  cor- 
respondences, and  was  thereby  enabled  to 
receive  instruction  from  the  Lord,  who  is  in 
the  Word.  At  once  also  he  began  to  commit 
his  studies  to  paper,  thinking  out  the  extent 
of  his  immense  theme  in  the  act  of  writing. 
"  Of  the  continued  character  of  these  studies, 
we  have  before  us  a  stupendous  record,  in  the 
manuscripts  which  he  left  on  the  books  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  which  show  an  un- 
wearied power,  and  a  gradually  brightening 
intelligence  on  the  scope  and  spirit  of  the 
Bible.  It  was  by  slow  degrees  that  he  rose 
from  his  previous  conceptions  to  the  new  devel- 
opment that  we  find  in  his  next  publication  : 
his  earlier  manuscripts  being  in  some  measure 
a  continuation  of  the  psychological  and  intel- 
lectual system  that  appears  in  the  Worship 
and  Love  of  God.  Plis  spiritual  experiences 
also  in  the  first  instance  partook  somewhat  of 
that  thinness  which  we  have  noted  as  peculiar 
in  the  last-mentioned  work  :  he  still  regarded 
spirits  as  minds  and  intelligences  appearing 
under  human  forms  ;  he  heard  their  s[)iritual 
voices,  and  saw  them  as  it  were  in  ethereal 
outline,  not  being  yet  opened  to  regard  them 
as  our  only  acquaintances,  —  men  and  women. 
However  his  ^Irft'ersarja,  from  wdiich  we  gather 
these  particulars,  are  in  truth  a  marvellous 
series  of  cogitations,  and  setting  his  own  works 
aside  we  know  not  with  what  commentaries 
they  ax"e  comparable  for  unfolding  the  spiritual 
aspect  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  subjec- 
tive philosophy  of  the  human  mind. 

22G.  "His  personal  history  at  this  date  is 
scanty,  and  almost  conjectural.  He  resided 
in    Loudon     (probably    with    Brockmer,    in 


58 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


Fetter  Lane)  until  the  beginning  of  July, 
1745,  wlien  lie  took  ship  to  Sweden,  arriving 
thither  after  a  passage  of  more  than  a  month, 
on  the  seventh  of  August.  During  the  voyage 
his  spiritual  intercourse  was  suspended  ;  per- 
haps at  this  period,  the  sea  was  not  so  favor- 
able for  it  as  the  land.  He  remained  in  Swe- 
den in  174G,  and  in  the  earlier  part  of  1747 
also. 

227.  "He  had  now  entered  upon  a  vocation 
which  no  longer  permitted  him  to  discliarge 
the  functions  of  his  office  as  Assessor  of  the 
Board  of  Mines,  and  in  1747  he  asked  and 
obtained  permission  of  King  Frederic  to  re- 
tire from  it.  His  petition  to  his  Majesty 
contained  also  two  other  requests,  namely, 
that  he  might  enjoy  during  life,  as  a  retiring 
pension,  one  half  of  the  salary  attached  to 
the  Assessorship  :  and  that  his  retii'ement  from 
the  office  might  not  be  accompanied  by  any 
addition  to  his  rank  or  title.  He  gives  his 
motives  in  the  transaction  in  his  own  modest 
way.  '  My  sole  view  in  this  resignation,' 
says  he,  '  was  that  I  might  be  more  at  liberty 
to  devote  myself  to  that  new  function  to  which 
the  Lord  had  called  me.  On  resigning  my 
office,  a  higlier  degree  of  rank  was  offered  me, 
but  this  I  declined,  lest  it  should  be  the  occa- 
sion of  inspiring  me  with  pride.'  The  king 
granted  his  desires,  but  in  consideration  of  his 
services  of  31  years,  continued  to  him  the 
whole  salary  of  his  late  office :  a  proof  of  the 
esteem  in  which  he  was  held  in  Sweden. 

228.  '*  We  presume  that  he  made  this  last 
voyage  to  Sweden  for  the  purpose  of  obtain- 
ing his  dismissal  from  the  Assessorship,  which 
when  he  had  procured,  he  again  repaired  to 
London  in  1747,  and  wrote  out  the  first  volume 
of  the  Arcana  Coelestia  for  the  press,  to  which 
John  Lewis  was  '  eye  witness.'  This  was 
published  about  the  middle  of  1749.  At  the 
beginning  of  1750  he  was  out  of  England, 
probably  in  Sweden,  for  he  sent  the  MS.  of 
the  second  volume  of  the  Arcana  from  abroad 
to  London  to  be  printed.  He  was  certainly 
in  his  own  country  in  1751,  when  we  meet 
him  at  the  funeral  of  his  old  coadjutor,  Pol- 
heim,  an  occasion  on  wdiich  he  saw  both  sides 
of  his  friend's  grave.  We  quote  from  his 
Diary  (commenced  about  1747)  the  record  of 
the  burial. 

229.  "  '  Polheim,'  says  he, '  died  on  Monday, 
and  spoke  with  me  on  Thursday.  I  was  invited 
to  the  funeral.  He  saw  the  hearse,  the  at- 
tendants, and  the  whole  procession.  He  also 
saw  them  let  down  the  coffin  into  the  grave, 
and  conversed  with  me  while  it  was  going  on. 
asking  me  why  they  buried  him  when  he  was 
alive?  And  when  the  priest  pronounced  that 
he  would  rise  again  at  tlie  day  of  judgment, 
he  asked  why  this  w^as,  when  he  had  risen 
already.  He  wondered  that  such  a  belief 
should  obtain,  considering  that  he  was  even 
now  alive ;  he  also  wondered  at  the  belief  in 
the    resurrection    of    the    body,  for  he    said 


that  he  felt  he  was   in   the   body ;  with  other 
remarks.' 

The  Arcana  Coelestia. 

230.  "  From  1749  to  1756  appeared  his  great 
work,  the  Arcana  Coelestia,*  in  eight  volumes 
4to.,  containing,  in  10,837  paragraphs,  an  ex- 
position of  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  books  of 
Genesis  and  Exodus.  This  work  was  pub- 
lished in  London,  volume  by  volume,  the 
second  being  issued  in  numbers,  with  an  Eng- 
lish version,  said  to  be  executed  by  one  Mar- 
chant.  Swedenborg's  publisher,  John  Lewis 
before  mentioned,  has  left  some  notice  of  him 
at  this  time.  He  says  that,  though  he  is 
'  positively  forbid  to  discover  the  author's 
name,'  yet  he  hopes  to  be  excused  for  men- 
tioning '  his  benign  and  generous  qualities.' 
He  '  avers  that  this  gentleman,  with  indefat- 
igable pains  and  labor,  spent  one  whole  year 
in  studying  and  writing  the  first  volume  of 
the  Arcana,  was  at  the  expense  of  £200  to 
print  it,  and  advanced  £200  more  for  the  print- 
ing of  the  second ;  and  when  he  had  done 
this,  he  gave  express  orders  that  all  the  money 
that  should  arise  in  the  sale,  should  be  given 
towards  the  charge  of  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel.  He  is  so  far  from  desiring  to  make 
a  gain  of  his  labors,  that  he  will  not  receive 
one  farthing  back  of  the  £400  he  hath  ex- 
pended ;  and  for  that  reason  his  works  will 
come  exceedingly  cheap    to    the    public'  "  — 

Wilkinson's  Biogrcvplty,  pp.  88-91. 

231.  "The  Arcana  opens  at  once  with  a  dis- 
play of  the  spiritual  sense  contained  in  every 
clause  of  the  vScripture,  and  the  writer  is  soon 
lost  to  us  behind  his  subject. "  In  the  Adver- 
saria, and  this  more  particularly  at  the  begin- 
ning, we  see  the  philosopher  reasoning  on  the 
Bible,  though  he  gradually  disappears  as  the 
figurative  meaning  comes  out  in  stronger  re- 
lief. It  is  invaluable,  however,  as  a  general 
survey  of  historical  representation  in  the 
books  of  Moses,  and  of  the  connection  of  its 
chai'acters  and  circumstances  with  the  then 
future  Church :  it  may  be  regarded  as  the 
canvas,  prepared  with  the  ground  colors,  so 
to  speak,  on  which  the  mystic  tableau  of  the 
Arcana  has  been  painted  ;  but  here  and  there 
some  outline  has  been  traced  which  the  author 
saw  reason  to  reject  when  he  had  considered 
the  ensemble,  from  a  high  point  of  view.  To 
prevent  any  misapprehension,  it  may  be  well 
to  state  explicitly  that  Swedenborg  was  not 
suddenly  transformed  into  an  infallible  teacher. 
As  a  child  of  the  Lutheran  church,  and  the  son 
of  a  Prelate,  it  is  only  rational  to  suppose 
that  his  mind  was  preoccupied  by  the  general 
tenets  of  that  religion,  notwithstanding  his 
having  been  prohibited  reading  dogmatic  and 
systematic  Theology  in  his   youth  (see  p.  5). 


*  Arcaiia  Coelestia.  The  Heavenly  Arcana  which  are  con- 
tained in  tlie  Holy  Scriptures,  or  Word  of  the  Lord,  Unfolded, 
beginning  with  the  Book  of  Genesis.  Together  with  Wonderful 
Things  seen  in  the  World  of  Spirits  and  in  the  Heaven  of 
Angels. 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


59 


Thus  the  current  opinion  concerning  a  trinity 
of  persons,  and  the  eternal  Sonship  is  noticed 
with  approbation  in  the  Adversaria,  hut  it  is 
mimjled  with  repeated  evidence,  as  the  work 
proceeds,  that  Sicedenborg  teas  gradually  re- 
ceiving illustration  on  this  momentous  subject; 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  complete  illuniina- 
tLon  of  his  mind  in  regard  to  it  was  the  im- 
mediate cause  of  his  laying  the  work  aside 
and  beginning  anew.  So  far  as  actual  Cor- 
respondences are  introduced  into  the  Adver- 
saria in  explanation  of  the  spiritual  sense  of 
the  Word,  it  may  be  considered  as  comple- 
mentary, though  sul)ordinate,  to  the  Arcana  ; 
and  even  when  its  notes  are  not  the  same  (in 
a  lower  key),  they  will  be  found  to  make  a 
chord  with  those  of  the  latter  work. 

232.  "  The  necessity  of  some  human  being 
having  his  spiritual  eyes  opened  before  the 
Word  could  be  explained  as  to  its  spiritual  con- 
tents, must  appear  self-evident  to  those  who 
honestly  investigate  the  interpretation  given 
by  Swedenborg,  and  especially  in  his  own 
words ;  there  being  as  much  diiFerence  be- 
tween his  works  and  any  description  or  sum- 
mary that  coukl  be  given  of  them,  as  between 
tlie  Scripture  and  the  writings  intended  to 
recommend  it.  Equally  clear  is  the  neces- 
sity of  the  instrument  of  such  a  revelation 
being  deeply  read  in  all  human  learning,  and 
skilled  in  philosophy,  as  well  as  a  child  of 
genius,  and  a  man  of  the  most  heavenly  dispo- 
sition ;  for  without  these  qualitiqations  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  reduce  the 
elements  of  the  spiritual  sense  into  such  a  di- 
gest as  could  be  expressed  in  natural  language. 
For  the  Spiritual  Sense  of  Scripture  is  not 
that  which  breaks  forth  as  light  out  of  the 
literal  sense,  while  a  person  is  studying  or  ex- 
plaining the  Word,  with  a  view  to  establish 
some  particular  tenet  of  the  Church  (T.  C. 
K.  194),  this  kind  of  illustration  being  always 
variable  with  the  state  of  the  reader  who  is 
the  subject  of  it ;  but  it  consists  in  a  complete 
order  or  chain  of  truths  adapted  to  the  spirit- 
ual loves  and  perceptions  of  the  human  mind, 
and  connected  by  analogy  and  correspondence 
with  natural  things.  The  transformation  of 
the  literal  sense,  therefore,  develops  the 
spiritual  sense  according  to  fixed  laws  :  the 
latter  has  its  grammar  as  well  as  the  former, 
and  its  elements  may  be  acquired  like  those 
of  a  foreign  language  by  any  one  disposed  to 
the  task.  Every  word  has  its  equivalent,  and 
every  idea  its  prototype  ;  these,  too,  being  the 
same  for  all  the  various  portions  of  the  Word, 
however  distant  the  times  when  they  were 
written.  This  system  of  analogy  is  also  in 
perfect  sequence  throughout,  and  is  of  such  a 
nature  as  to  be  contemplated  interiorly  by 
spirits  and  angels,  while  men  in  the  world  are 
meditating  on  the  letter.  On  this  account  the 
inspired  Word  is  uniformly  described  by  Swe- 
denbtrg  as  the  means  of  conjunction  between 


heaven  and  earth,  or  between  the  invisible 
and  visible  Church." — RicJis  Sketch,  pp. 
104-7. 

233.  "The  author  professes  to  have  derived 
the  whole  of  the  Arcana  from  direct  rational 
illumination  by  the  Lord  ;  no  spirit  and  no 
angel  had  infused  its  supernatural  knowle<1ge. 
but  it  proceeded  directly  from  the  Almighty 
himself.  As,  however,  it  was  an  intellectual 
light  by  which  the  Most  High  communicated 
himself  to  Swedeiiborg's  imderstanding,  and 
through  that  to  his  spiritually-opened  senses, 
so  it  comes  to  be  judged  and  apprehended  by 
the  human  understanding,  and  is  freely  placed 
before  the  rational  powers.  No  man,  accord- 
ing to  Swedenborg,  is  bound  to  receive  it  on 
his  ipse  dixit,  but  he  is  to  examine  it,  and  de- 
cide according  to  intrinsic  evidence. 

234.  "  The  work  runs  in  two  parallel  streams ; 
there  is  on  the  one  hand  a  series  of  scriptural 
interpretations  unlocking  the  letter  of  the 
Word  into  truths  pertaining  to  the  Lord  and 
the  inner  man  ;  there  is  on  the  other  a  narra- 
tive interjected  between  the  chapters  of  the 
former,  and  embracing  a  description  of  the 
wonders  of  the  other  life.  We  must  give  to 
these  two  departments  a  separate  considera- 
tion. 

235.  "  For  the  first,  the  position  of  the  Bible 
is  defined  as  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
nature  of  biblical  evidences  is  thereby  deter- 
mined. If  it  be  the  book  and  message  of  the 
Infinite,  its  proper  attestations  are  its  intrinsic 
divinity  ;  its  wisdom  and  its  love  ;  its  adapta- 
tion to  man  as  a  religious  being  in  all  time 
and  place,  and  in  all  states  of  existence ;  in  a 
word,  it  must  contain  details,  infinite  in  every 
way,  and  connecting  every  possible  state  of 
the  soul  with  the  Fountain  of  blessings.  This 
profound  creed  respecting  the  Word,  is  the 
postulate  of  Swedenborg's  Arcana,  to  be 
proved  in  the  sequel  by  the  showing  of  the 
w^ork  itself. 

236.  "  The  method  whereby  the  Word  is  un- 
folded is  called  in  general  the  science  of  cor- 
respondences. If  there  be  unity  in  the  crea- 
tion, then  is  the  whole  one  coherent  plan,  be- 
ginning from  God,  and  ending  in  God.  If 
there  be  order,  then  is  there  a  hierarchy  of 
natures,  whereof  the  highest  are  first  prwluced, 
and  nearest  to  their  source ;  the  second  crea- 
tures standing  next  to  the  first,  and  the  third 
to  the  second  :  each  being  jilaced  between  those 
which  are  next  of  kin  to  it  above  and  below. 
If  there  be  life  and  movement,  then  the  action 
must  pass  in  the  before-mentioned  order,  and 
each  new  mean,  as  it  is  produced,  will  engen- 
der the  means  of  representing  and  carrying 
itself  out  in  another  and  a  farther  sj)here. 
These  are  our  needful  thoughts  of  every  con- 
sistent work,  and  the  perfection  of  the  work  is 
in  proportion  to  the  strictness  with  which  the 
above  conditions  are  realized.  Let  the  reader 
apply  the  case  to  any  thing  which  he  himself 


60 


LITE  AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


does,  and  he  will  discover  that  the  unity  of 
his  result  contains  and  depends  upon  these  par- 
ticulars. 

237.  "  But  nature  is  the  work  of  God,  and 
the  Word  is  the  speech  of  God,  and  the  speech 
is  in  like  manner  a  work.  The  Word  there- 
fore involves  the  above  substantial  laws.  In 
its  innermost  essence  it  is  divine ;  in  its  next 
intentions  it  regards  the  ends  that  are  to  fol- 
low from  it,  in  times  beyond  the  present,  and 
in  realms  beyond  time  itself;  speaking  to  the 
ultimate  races  of  man,  and  to  the  highest 
heavens :  in  its  next  meanings  it  speaks  to  a 
future  less  remote,  and  to  a  lower  altitude  of 
heaven,  and  so  forth ;  until  at  length  it  ad- 
dresses each  man  and  spirit  in  his  own  lan- 
guage and  in  his  own  age.  Like  the  world 
itself  it  stands  forever,  but  the  race  according 
to  its  various  state,  draws  from  its  inexhausti- 
ble bosom  new  mines  of  treasure,  from  its 
surface  new  circumstances  of  life,  from  its  at- 
mosphere new  sources  of  power. 

238.  "  What  therefore  is  the  science  of  cor- 
respondences ?  It  is  the  intellectual  teaching 
of  the  relations  between  all  different  spheres. 
The  difficulty  of  illustrating  it  lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  works  of  God  differ  from  those  of 
God's  image,  man,  in  one  important  particular. 
The  human  workman  in  this  world  is  only 
conscious  of  operating  on  one  platform  at 
once ;  if  he  makes  a  machine,  it  is  all  in  na- 
ture ;  if  he  writes  a  book,  it  carries,  to  his 
mind,  but  one  meaning.  The  divine  work- 
man, however,  operates  at  once  in  all  altitudes 
and  worlds ;  his  fiat,  and  its  productions,  per- 
vade the  depth  and  the  breadth  of  his  crea- 
tion :  his  creative  wisdom  passes  by  unknown 
paths  through  every  sphere,  and  the  same  ray 
of  divine  light  deposits  in  one  an  angelic  af- 
fection, in  the  next  a  human  love,  in  the  next 
an  animal  faculty,  and  only  terminates  by 
creating  some  animal,  vegetable,  or  mineral 
reality  or  modification,  which  breathing 
straightway  with  the  divine  effort,  tends  up- 
wards again  through  the  same  series,  subsist- 
ing from  all,  supporting  all,  and  running  back 
through  all.  What  makes  the  difference  of 
these  productions  ?  Not  the  creative  ray,  but 
the  place,  time,  state,  and  circumstances  upon 
which  it  works ;  for  it  is  no  other  than  one 
wisdom  in  a  various  exercise.  The  corre- 
spondence between  the  forms  that  it  leaves  in 
its  passage,  is  simply  this,  that  they  are  all 
one  in  soul,  but  each  suited  to  a  different  use  ; 
and  hence  as  a  rule,  correspondence  is  a  divine 
equation,  whereby  one  thing  is  to  one  sphere 
precisely  as  another  thing  is  to  another  sphere. 
Whenever  this  is  the  case,  the  two  things  are 
fundamentally  united  ;  they  mutually  do  each 
other's  work  in  their  own  places,  and  are 
each  others,  no  matter  how  unlike  they  ap- 
peal* in  form  ;  for  the  form  is  but  the  face  or 
body  that  each  shows  to  its  peculiar  sphere. 
Now  if  we  had  experience  of  this  compound 
operation  in  our  own  works,  we  should  easily 


admit  it  of  the  works  and  Word  of  God  ;  as 
it  is,  however,  we  obtain  a  glimpse  of  it  in 
another  way,  by  symbols  in  language,  which 
make  the  objects  of  nature  into  bodies  of 
thought,  thereby  suggesting  that  all  things  are 
the  naturalization  of  divine  thoughts  ;  by  the 
human  face,  which  expresses  the  soul,  and 
thus  presents  us  with  two  corresponding  things 
in  two  different  spheres ;  also,  by  gestures 
and  particular  acts,  which,  we  know  not  why, 
are  felt  to  be  images  of  the  persons  who  pro- 
duce them,  and  are  interpreted  of  them  by 
this  signification.  Not  to  mention  other  illus- 
trations. 

239.  «  The  Word  of  God  then,  on  Sweden- 
borg's  showing,  contains  various  bodies  of 
divine  truth  adequate  to  divers  orders  of 
angels  and  men  ;  to  the  celestial  man,  in  whom 
goodness  is  paramount,  it_  is  celestial,  and 
teaches  the  truths  of  the  innermost  heaven : 
to  the  spiritual  man,  in  whom  truth  is  supreme, 
it  is  spii'itual,  and  teaches  the  truths  of  the 
second  heaven :  to  the  lower  heavens,  atd  to 
the  natural  world,  it  is  natural,  and  teaches 
truths  by  symbols  in  the  one  case,  and  by  a 
mixture  of  history  and  symbul  in  the  other. 
It  has  therefore  three  general  sensrs,  which 
correspond  to  each  other,  but  is  throughout 
divine  in  its  origin  and  end.  The  Arcana 
Coelestia  is  chiefly  devoted  to  an  exposition  of 
the  spiritual  sense  of  one  portion  of  it. 

2-iO.  "  This  brings  us  to  the  second  depart- 
ment of  the  work,  or  the  spiritual  experience, 
which  comprises  lengthy  accounts  of  the 
other  world.  And  here  we  may  remark  that 
some  persons  have  greatly  regretted  that  the 
author  should  have  introduced  these  narratives 
into  his  interpretation.  Among  the  I'est, 
Swedenborg's  friend.  Count  Hopken  'once 
represented  to  the  venerable  man,  that  he 
thought  it  would  be  better  not  to  mix  his 
beautiful  writings  with  so  many  memorable 
relations,  or  things  heard  and  seen  in  the 
spiritual  world,  ...  of  which  ignorance 
makes  a  jest  and  derision.'  But  Sweden- 
borg  answered,  that  '  this  did  not  depend  upon 
him  ;  that  he  was  too  old  to  sport  with  spirit- 
ual things,  and  too  much  concerned  for  hia 
eternal  happiness  to  give  in  to  such  foolish 
notions,'  with  more  to  the  same  purport. 
And  still  notwithstanding  the  Count  says,  that 
'  he  could  have  wished  that  Swedenborg  had 
left  them  out,  since  they  may  prevent  infidel- 
ity from  approaching  his  doctrines.'  The 
truth  however  is  that  they  are  vital  to  hia 
doctrines,  and  to  omit  them,  would  reduce  his 
interpretations  to  a  philosophical  system,  that 
like  the  rest  would  have  no  hold  upon  crea- 
tion, and  no  heel  upon  infidelity,  which  indeed 
it  would  supply  with  a  new  field  of  opera- 
tions. 

241.  "A  visitant  of  the  spiritual  world, 
Swedenborg  has  described  it  in  lively  colors, 
and  it  would  appear  that  it  is  not  at  all  like 
what  modern  ages  have  deemed.     According 


LIFE  AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


61 


(0  some,  it  is  a  speck  of  abstraction,  intense 
with  grace  and  saving  faitli,  and  other  things 
of"  terms.  Only  a  few  of  the  oldest  poets  — 
always  excepting  the  Bible  —  have  shadowed 
it  forth  with  any  degree  of  reality,  as  spa- 
cious for  mankind.  There  Swedenborg  is  at 
one  with  them,  only  that  he  is  more  sublimely 
homely  regarding  our  future  dwelling-place. 
The  spiritual  world  is  the  same  old  world  of 
God  in  a  higher  sphere.  Hill  and  valley, 
plain  and  mountain,  are  as  apparent  there  as 
here.  The  evident  difference  lies  in  the  mul- 
tiplicity and  perfection  of  objects,  but  every 
thing  with  which  we  are  familiar  is  perpetu- 
ated there,  and  added  to  innumerable  others. 
The  spiritual  world  is  essential  nature,  and 
spirit  besides.  Its  inhabitants  are  men  and 
women,  and  their  circumstances  are  societies, 
houses  and  lands,  and  whatever  belongs  there- 
to. The  commonplace  foundation  needs  no 
moving,  to  support  the  things  which  eye  hath 
not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  the  heart  of  man 
conceived.  The  additions  and  pinnacles  of 
wisdom  are  placed  upon  the  basis  which  God 
has  laid.  Thus  nature  is  not  only  a  knowl- 
edge, but  a  method ;  our  introduction  to  the 
mineral,  vegetable  and  animal  worlds,  to  the 
air  and  the  sun,  is  a  friendship  that  will  never 
be  dissolved :  there  is  no  faithlessness  in  our 
great  facts  if  only  we  are  faithful  to  them, 
but  stone  and  bird,  wood  and  animal,  sea  and 
sky,  are  acquaintances  which  we  meet  with  in 
the  spiritual  sphere,  in  our  latest  manhood  or 
angelhood,  equally  as  in  the  dawn  of  the 
senses,  befoi'e  the  grave  is  gained.  Such  is 
the  spiritual  world  :  duration  and  immensity 
resuming  nature,  but  subject  to  spiritual  laws." 
—  Wilkinson's  Biography,  pp.  91-96. 

242.  "  In  the  limited  space  of  this  biogra- 
phy, we  cannot  give  even  an  idea  of  the  con- 
tents of  the  Arcana,  or  of  the  spiritual  sense, 
descriptive  of  man's  regeneration,  which  Swe- 
denborg evolves  from  the  Scripture  ;  but  of 
the  manner  of  the  work  we  may  say  a  few 
words  with  less  injustice.  Conceive,  then, 
gentle  reader,  twelve  goodly  8vo.  volumes  (in 
English)  written  with  such  continued  power 
that  it  seems  as  if  eating,  drinking  and  sleep- 
ing had  never  intervened  between  the  pen- 
man and  his  page,  so  unbroken  is  the  subject, 
and  so  complete  the  sense.  Add  to  the  other 
health  and  harmony  of  this  unflagging  man, 
a  memory  of  the  most  extraordinary  grasp, 
which  enabled  him  to  administer  the  details  of 
an  intellect  ranging  through  all  truth  on  the 
one  hand,  and  through  the  whole  field  of 
Scripture  illustration  and  text  upon  the  other. 
Then  take  into  account  the  unity  of  the  work 
from  first  to  last ;  the  constant  reference  that 
binds  all  parts  of  it  together,  and  shows  the 
caution  with  which  each  strong  affirmation  is 
at  first  set  down.  Observe  also  tlie  felicity 
of  phrase,  the  happiness  of  mind,  the  easy 
greatness,  which  shine  along  and  dignify  those 
serious  pages.     Remark  also  that   the  author 


does  not  deal  in  generalities,  but  sentence  for 
sentence,  and  word  for  word,  he  translates  his 
text  into  spiritual  meaning,  and  criticizes  and 
supports  himself  with  nearly  every  parallel 
text  in  the  sacred  writings.  Literature,  good 
reader,  shows  no  similar  case,  and  though  the 
fate  of  it  be  left  to  the  future,  yet  we  may 
safely  predict  that  it  will  be  found  impossible 
to  refute  it  on  its  own  grounds  ;  and  perhaps 
it  would  not  be  wise  for  thee  to  wait  until  a 
valid  refutation  shall  come  —  in  the  produc- 
tion of  a  better  interpretation,  —  one  more 
worthy  of  God,  and  more  serviceable  to  human 
weal.  We  say  this  that  thou  mayest  use 
what  thou  hast,  but  nowise  doubting  that  the 
Almighty  has  more  to  give,  through  other  sons 
than  Swedenborg."  —  Ibid.  pp.  101,  102. 

243.  In  speaking  of  the  wonderful  charac- 
ter of  ihc  Arcana  Ccelestia,  and  of  the  closely- 
connected  spiritual  sense,  evolved  from  the 
literal  sense,  not  by  conjectural  interpretation 
merely,  but  by  taking  up  word  by  word,  from 
the  first  of  Genesis,  another  writer  remarks  :  — 
"  Now,  what  could  have  been  the  origin  of 
such  a  work  ?  AVhenee  could  he  have  derived 
such  ideas  ?  We  might  suppose  it  possible, 
perhaps,  that  by  skilful  contrivance,  and  the 
power  of  an  active  imagination,  a  tolerably 
complete  internal  or  allegorical  meaning  of 
this  sort  might  be  invented  and  carried  through 
a  few  verses.  But  what  is  one  to  think,  when 
we  find  the  author  proceeding  through  chapter 
after  chapter,  in  this  manner,  '  not  only  show- 
ing a  complete  and  connected  spiritual  sense 
throughout  the  whole,  and  in  every  verse  and 
word ;  but,  moreover,  proceeding  to  show  the 
cause  of  the  existence  of  that  spiritual  sense, 
and  even  laying  down  plain  principles,  by 
which  it  may  be  discovered,  not  only  in  the 
chapters  before  him,  but  in  any  part  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  ?  And  when,  moreover,  we 
find  the  author  not  stopping  with  one  volume, 
but  going  on  with  the  work,  and,  in  a  year  or 
two  producing  a  second  volume,  connected  in 
regular  order  with  the  first,  taking  up  chapter 
after  chapter,  and  setting  forth  and  explaining 
their  spiritual  sense  in  the  same  manner  and 
on  the  same  uniform  principles,  and  the  whole 
making  complete  sense,  —  it  is  enough  to 
excite  the  astonishment  of  any  inquiring 
mind  !  But  he  does  not  stop  here  ;  he  still 
goes  on,  and  produces  a  third  volume,  and  a 
fourth,  and  a  fifth,  and  a  sixth,  a  seventh, 
and  an  eighth  :  and  in  those  eight  quartoes,  ho 
completes  the  exposition  of  the  first  two  Books, 
Genesis  and  Exodus.  The  internal  significa- 
tion, or  spiritual  sense,  of  these  two  Books,  is 
thus  completely  set  forth ;  not  merely  stated, 
but  explained  ;  and  a  reason  given  for  every 
thing,  both  for  the  principle  of  the  interpreta- 
tion itself,  and  for  every  particular  interpre- 
tation, based  upon  that  principle.  And  what 
renders  the  work  yet  more  remarkable  is,  that 
throughout  all  the  eight  volumes,  there  is  no 
mistake   made,  no  contradiction  found,  in  set- 


02 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   E.MANUEL   S".  EDENBORG. 


tiiij*^  forth  this  spiritual  sense  ;  but  it  is  all  of 
a  piece,  it  is  one  uniform  work  ;  so  that  the 
spiritual  sense  of  the  last  chapter  of  Exodus 
is  found  to  be  connected  with  and  dependent 
upon  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis,  and  of  all  the  intermediate  chap- 
ters. And  what,  moreover,  is  the  nature  of 
this  spiritual  sense  ?  Is  it  of  a  fanciful  or  vis- 
ionary cast?  Not  in  the  least;  it  is  simply  an 
exposition  of  high  and  important  religious 
truths,  concerning  man's  mind  and  soul  and 
eternal  interests ;  concerning  the  nature  of 
goodness  and  truth ;  concerning  the  Lord, 
man's  Creator  and  Savior.  These  are  the 
subjects  treated  of  in  that  spiritual  sense  ; 
and  they  are  such  as  Avould  alone  be  expected 
to  be  found  in  the  Word  of  God. 

24^4.  "  And  now,  what  are  we  to  think  of  this 
remarkable  work  ?  To  what  source  can  it  be 
ascribed .''  One  of  two  alternatives,  it  is  plain, 
must  be  accepted.  It  was  either  an  invention 
or  a  discovery  :  this  spiritual  sense  must  either 
have  been  a  contrivance  and  composition  of 
the  author's,  Swedenborg  himself;  or  else  it 
was  a  simple  bringing  forth  of  interior  truth 
in  the  Word  of  God,  which  there  before  ex- 
isted, and  had  always  existed,  and  waited  only 
the  due  time  to  be  brought  forth  to  the  world 
and  to  the  church  ;  just  as  precious  metals  lie 
hidden  for  ages  in  the  earth,  till,  in  the  coui'se 
of  Providence,  the  full  time  arrives  for  their 
being  discovered  and  brouglit  forth  for  the  use 
of  man.  Of  the  above  alternatives,  a  very 
little  reflection  on  the  description  of  the  work 
just  given,  is  sutficient  to  show  that  the  former, 
(the  supposition  that  it  was  an  invention  or 
contrivance  of  the  writer's,)  is  altogether  un- 
tenable :  the  invention  of  such  a  secondary 
sense  to  the  Scriptures,  and  the  carrying  on 
of  such  a  composition,  without  error  or  incon- 
sistency, through  whole  chapters  and  books, 
would  manifestly  be  quite  an  impossibility ; 
and  not  less  so,  that  such  an  invention  should 
then  be  palmed  otf  upon  the  world  as  truth, 
by  a  man  of  the  upright  and  elevated  character 
of  the  philosopher  Swedeuborg.  Infinitely 
less  incredible  is  his  own  simple  statement, 
that  such  a  spiritual  or  interior  sense  truly 
exists  in  the  Divine  Word,  and  tliat,  for  the 
benefit  of  mankind,  he  had  been  made  the  in- 
strument of  bringing  it  forth  to  the  world, 
and  his  mind  enlightened  to  perceive  it.  In- 
deed, we  know,  that  from  tlie  earliest  times,  a 
glimmer  of  this  hidden  light  has  been  seen  in 
the  church.  Origen,  and  others  of  the  early 
fathers,  spoke  and  wrote  much  of  their  belief 
in  such  a  hidden  or  interior  sense  in  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  in  regard  especially  to  the  first  chap- 
ters of  Genesis  —  the  account  of  the  garden 
of  Eden  and  the  fall,  Eve  and  the  serpent : 
so  common  was  the  belief  in  there  being 
another  sense  than  that  of  the  letter,  and 
that  that  description  had  an  allegorical  mean- 
ing, that  Origen,  in  his  answer  to  Celsus  and 
his  attack  on  the  Scriptures,  chiU'gcs  him  with: 


a  want  of  ingenuousness  and  honesty  in  argu- 
ment, in  bringing  forth  that  narrative  as  objec- 
tionable, because  incredible  and  fabulous,  when 
he  very  well  knew,  that  it  was  not  intended 
to  be  taken  in  its  literal  acceptation.  But  it 
remained  for  our  own  day  to  see  this  hidden 
light  manifested  in  all  its  beauty  and  glory, 
and  for  a  man  of  our  own  age  to  be  raised  up, 
as  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  Providence, 
to  bring  it  forth  to  the  world."  —  Memoir  of 
Swedenhorg,  by  Rev.  T.  0.  Prescott. 

Executed  Criminals. 
24.5.  "  In  175G,  on  the  23d  of  July,  Sweden- 
horg was  in  Stockholm.  This  we  learn  inci- 
dentally from  his  Diary.  It  was  in  this  year 
that  a  revolution  was  attempted  in  Sweden, 
and  on  the  day  above  mentioned,  the  leaders 
of  the  conspiracy.  Count  Brahe  and  Baron 
Horn,  were  executed  in  the  capital.  Swe- 
denhorg did  not  lose  sight  of  Brahe  when  he 
was  beyond  the  axe  ;  as  the  following  passage 
reports  :  — 

246.  "  '  Of  those  who  are  resuscitated  from 
the  dead,  and  have  made  confession  of  faith 
in  their  last  moments  (Brahe). 

"'Brahe  was  beheaded  at  10  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  and  spoke  with  me  at  10  at  night ; 
that  is  to  say,  twelve  hours  after  his  execu- 
tion. He  was  with  me  almost  without  inter- 
ruption for  several  days.  In  two  days'  time, 
he  began  to  return  to  his  former  life,  which 
consisted  in  loving  worldly  things,  and  after 
three  days  he  became  as  he  was  before  in  the 
world,  and  was  carried  into  the  evils  he  had 
made  his  own  before  he  died.' 

"This  perhaps  was  the  occasion  to  which 
Robsahm  alludes  in  the  following:  'One 
day,'  says  he,  '  as  a  criminal  was  led  to  the 
place  of  execution  to  be  beheaded,  I  was  by 
the  side  of  Swedenborg,  and  asked  him  how 
such  a  person  felt  at  tlie  time  of  !iis  execution. 
He  answered,  "  When  a  man  lays  his  head  on 
the  block,  he  loses  all  sensation.  When  he 
fii'st  comes  into  the  spiritual  world,  and  finds 
that  he  is  living,  he  is  seized  with  fear  of  his 
expected  death,  tries  to  escape,  and  is  very 
much  frightened.  At  such  a  moment  no  one 
thinks  of  any  thing  but  the  happiness  of  heaven, 
or  the  misery  of  hell.  Soon  the  good  spirits 
come  to  him  and  instruct  him  where  he  is,  and 
he  is  then  left  to  follow  his  own  inclinations, 
which  soon  lead  him  to  the  place  where  he 
remains  forever."  ' 

247.  '"In  1758,  Swedenhorg  published  in 
London  the  five  following  works :  1.  An  Ac- 
count of  the  Last  Judgment  and  the  Destruc- 
tion of  Babylon  ;  showing  that  all  the  predic- 
tions in  the  Apocalypse  are  at  this  day  fulfilled  ; 
being  a  relation  of  things  heard  and  seen. 
2.  Concerning  Heaven  and  its  Wonders,  and 
concerning  Hell,  being  a  relatioii  of  things 
heard  and  seen.  3.  On  the  White  Horse  men- 
tioned in  the  Apocalypse.  4.  On  the  Planets 
in  our  Solar  System,  and  on  those  in  the  Star- 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


G3 


ry  Heavens ;  tcith  an  account  of  their  inlia'/- 
itants,  and  of  tlieir  Spirits  and  Angels.  i>.  (hi 
the  New  Jerusalem  and  its  Ilenreiih/  Dorfriue, 
as  retreated  from  Heaven.  A\  e  have  now  to 
Bpeak  seriatim  of  these  productions. 

The  Last  Judgment. 
248.  "  Swedenborg's  Doctrine  of  tlie  Last 
Judgment  requires  a  sliort  preface  to  under- 
stand it,  but  unlike  other  accounts  of  the  great 
assize,  it  comes  into  human  liistory,  and  has  a 
very  intelligible  connection  with  future  prog- 
ress. The  earth,  says  he,  is  the  seminary  of 
the  human  race,  and  the  si)iritual  world  is 
their  destination.  Mankind  are  educated  here 
through  the  senses  in  a  natural  hotly,  and 
after  death  their  life  continues  with  spiritual 
senses,  and  in  a  spiritual  body.  The  supply 
of  nutriment  from  earth  to  heaven,  that  is  to 
say,  of  fresh  human  races,  is  perpetual,  and 
will  never  cease ;  for  every  divine  work  rep- 
resents infinity  and  eternity,  and  hence  the 
generations  of  men  in  the  natural  world  will 
continue  for  everlasting.  The  earth  therefore 
will  not  be  destroyed  at  the  day  of  Judgment. 
Furthermore,  all  angels  and  spirits  have  once 
been  men  upon  some  planet ;  there  is  no  direct 
creation  of  angels,  but  every  celestial  inhabit- 
ant has  risen  according  to  his  desert,  from  the 
ranks  of  mankind.  Thus  there  is  no  finite 
being  superior  to  man,  and  no  substantial 
intermediate  between  man  and  his  Maker. 
Now  it  follows  from  this  that  as  heaven  is 
peopled  from  this  world,  the  state  of  the  spir- 
itual world  depends  upon  that  of  the  natural. 
When  the  ages  pour  into  it  good  and  true 
persons,  then  the  upper  world  thrives,  and  its 
integrity  is  maintained ;  on  the  other  hand 
when  ages  are  declining,  when  hereditary 
vices  taint  mankind,  and  posterity  goes  on 
from  bad  to  worse,  then  the  human  materials 
supplied  to  the  inward  world,  disease,  derange, 
and  threaten  it.  At  such  a  time  our  foul  an- 
cestry collects  above  and  around  us,  and  act- 
ing from  behind  upon  the  nature  that  we  have 
inherited  from  them,  and  from  above  upon 
our  actual  thoughts  and  lives,  tends  to  environ 
us  with  a  dense  atmosphere  of  falsehood  and 
iniquity.  It  is  a  common  fallacy  to  suppose 
that  we  live  by  ourselves  ;  our  very  inmost 
minds  are  immersed  in  the  whole  of  humanity, 
they  depend  upon  the  entire  past,  as  it  is  real- 
ized in  those  who  have  carried  its  spirit  into 
the  other  life.  When  the  spiritual  world  is 
crowded  with  unworthy  ages,  the  light  of 
heaven  can  no  longer  reach  their  descendants, 
for  by  the  laws  of  the  supernal  order,  the 
Lord's  influence  passes  through  the  angelic 
heaven  by  distinct  gradations  into  the  world  ; 
and  the  latter  being  overhung  by  clouds  of 
malignant  and  false  natures,  the  beams  of  the 
celestial  sun  no  longer  reach  it.  Should  this 
continue,  the  extinction  of  the  human  race, 
through  vice  and  lawlessness,  would  at  length 
ensue  :  and  hence,  whenever  mankind  is  fall- 


ing, a  special  divine  interposition  alone  can 
renew  the  broken  order,  restore  the  balance, 
revivify  the  earth,  and  present  for  the  totter- 
ing heavens  a  fresh  basis  of  establishment. 
Now  this  crisis  has  been  imminent  on  this 
planet  three  several  times :  once  in  the  most 
ancient  church,  whose  last  judgment  was  typi- 
fied by  the  flood :  once  when  the  Lord  was  in 
the  world,  and  when  lie  said,  '  Now  is  the 
judgment  of  this  world,  now  is  the  prince  of 
this  world  cast  out : '  and  again  :  '  Be  of  good 
cheer ;  I  have  overcome  the  world.'  And  a 
third  time,  teste  Swedenborg,  in  17.57,  when 
the  first  Christian  church  was  consummated ; 
for  it  is  to  be  observed  that  each  judgment 
marks  a  divine  epoch,  or  takes  place  at  the 
end  of  a  church,  and  a  church  comes  to  an  end 
when  it  has  no  longer  any  faith  in  conse- 
quence of  having  no  charity. 

249.  "  We  observe  that  this  doctrine  of  the 
last  judgment  is  a  kind  of  historical  necessity, 
if  the  other  life  be  indeed  real,  and  if  this  life 
prepare  its  subjects  :  if  on  the  other  hand  dead 
men  are  to  stand  for  nothing,  and  if  either  an- 
nihilation, or  any  other  piece  of  philosophy, 
such  as  the  soul  lying  in  the  body's  grave,  be 
admitted,  then  is  history  cut  from  behind  us 
every  hour,  and  we  stand  as  disconnected 
mortals  in  its  broken  chains,  in  which  case 
the  affiliation  of  ages  to  each  other  is  mere 
fortuity,  and  generation  itself  is  only  an  ideal 
game.  Belief  in  immortality  however  —  be- 
lief in  the  enduring  manhood  of  mankind, 
implies  a  belief  in  the  substance  and  power 
of  the  dead,  and  to  leave  them  out  of  the  his- 
toric calculus,  would  be  like  omitting  from  the 
i'orces  of  the  world  its  imponderable  and  at- 
mospheric powers,  which  are  the  very  brains 
and  lungs  of  its  movements,  though,  save  by 
their  effects,  invisible  and  quasi  spiritual. 

250.  "  Now  the  Christian  church  had  been 
declining  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  with 
whom  it  was  first  founded  in  love  and  simple 
faith.  It  had  declined  through  the  anger  and 
hatred  of  the  Christians  ;  through  their  vio- 
lence and  bloody  wars  ;  through  their  love  of 
dominion  in  a  kingdom  where  all  were  to  be 
servants  ;  through  their  love  of  the  world  in  a 
state  whose  early  builders  had  all  things  in 
common,  and  in  which  the  Lord's  morrow 
would  take  care  of  itself;  through  their  coun- 
cils, where  the  human  mind  erected  itself 
in  session  upon  the  truths  of  God,  and  made 
them  into  coverings  for  human  sins ;  through 
the  popedom,  which  sat  upon  the  vacant 
throne  of  the  Messiah  ;  through  the  reforma- 
tion, which  kindled  fresh  hostilities  and  pas- 
sions, and  brought  into  clear  separation  the 
mind  and  heart  of  the  church,  writing  up  jus- 
tification by  faith  on  the  hall  of  the  concourse 
of  evil  doers  ;  finally  through  the  wide-spread 
Atheism  which  found  too  valid  an  excuse  in 
the  manifold  abominations  of  the  Christians. 
Through  these  stages  had  the  church  proceed- 
ed, and  in  1707  the  measure  was  full,  the  race 


64 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


upon  earth  had  seen  the  last  remnant  of  the 
heavenly  azure  disappear,  and  the  thick  night 
had  closed  in.  For  all  these  deeds  had  been 
carried  upwards,  and  retransacted  with  fresh 
power  and  malignity  in  the  spiritual  world ; 
their  several  ages  were  still  extant,  and  busily 
at  work  for  themselves,  as  well  as  in  the  souls 
of  their  posterity. 

251.  "The  judgment  required  could  not 
take  place  in  nature,  but  where  all  are  togeth- 
er, and  therefore  in  the  spiritual  world,  and 
not  upon  the  earth.  This  article  from  Sweden- 
borg  also  depends  upon  an  acknowledgment 
of  the  reality  of  the  life  after  death  ;  also  that 
heaven  and  hell  are  from  mankind  exclusively, 
and  that  all  who  have  been  born  since  the  crea- 
tion are  in  one  or  the  other  of  them.  More- 
over no  one  is  judged  from  the  natural  man,  or 
therefore  in  the  natural  world,  but  from  the 
spiritual  man,  and  therefore  in  the  spiritual 
world,  where  he  is  known  as  he  realy  is.  If 
men  judge  of  actions  by  the  spirit,  surely  God 
judges  of  them  by  the  spirit  much  more  pure- 
ly ;  that  is  to  say,  in  the  real  and  collective 
sense,  judges  the  race  in  the  spiritual  world. 
And  to  conclude  these  reasons,  those  who  have 
died  are  already  fully  embodied,  will  need  no 
resurrection  of  their  poor  tlesh,  and  will  not 
and  cannot  return  to  earth  to  seek  it. 

252.  "  Xliis  judgment  of  which  we  are 
treating  is  no  vindictive  assize,  such  as  we  are 
unaccustomed  to  in  this  world,  but  veritably 
spiritual  historic,  like  the  greatest  judgments 
•which  are  written  in  the  records  of  nations, 
like  the  least  which  are  pronounced  from  the 
bench  by  the  law.  Nay  history  in  its  fluctua- 
tions represents  these  divine  settlements  and 
periods  better  than  any  thing  else ;  and  more- 
over attests  them,  simply  because  it  proceeds 
from  them.  Wlien  the  vice  and  pomp  of  em- 
pires stop  tiie  world's  progress,  and  new  eras 
struggle  vainly  for  birth  against  the  powers 
that  be,  then  comes  in  the  hand  of  God,  and 
restores  the  balance,  by  removing  the  high 
places  where  sin  has  dwelt.  And  so  in  the 
spiritual  world.  God  and  his  ministers  are 
there  more  [jlainly,  and  the  largest  rights  and 
the  equilibrium  of  universes  are  then  decided 
in  their  proper  assize.  Such  visitations  have 
been  periodical,  and  are  not  reserved  for  the 
end  of  time,  but  rather  occur  near  its  begin- 
ning, to  make  tlie  course  of  heaven  free  for 
the  emancipated  generations.  The  time  \vhen 
the  tares  and  the  wheat  are  separated,  is  not  at 
the  end  of  harvests,  but  the  future  has  the 
benefit  of  the  separation,  harvests  innumerable 
are  gathered  thereafter,  and  fertility  only  be- 
gins when  the  weeds  are  exterminated.  So 
also  it  is  that  the  diviner  epochs  of  the  world 
cannot  open  until  the  Day  of  Judgment  is  past. 

253.  "  The  judgment  of  1757,  comprised 
all  those  who  had  left  the  world  since  our 
Lord's  coming,  those  who  had  lived  previously 
having  been  tried  in  the  judgment  which  was 
effected  during    His  advent.     It  took  effect. 


however,  principally  upon  only  one  section  of 
that  great  multitude  of  spirits.  For  there  are 
in  the  spiritual  world  three  departments  ;  viz., 
heaven,  where  those  are  received  who  are  de- 
cisively good  ;  hell,  or  the  abode  of  the  con- 
trary persons ;  and  the  intermediate  state, 
called  the  world  of  spirits,  where  all  are  at 
first  assembled,  and  where  those  who  can  keep 
up  the  outward  semblance  of  order,  whether 
they  be  good  or  bad,  are  congregated  so  long 
as  their  inward  nature  does  not  disclose  itself. 
It  was  in  the  latter  receptacle  that  the  current 
of  respectable  and  professing  Christendom  had 
disembogued  its  hourly  myriads,  and  there, 
under  the  varnish  of  goodness  and  religion, 
many  had  built  up  their  doctrinal  cities,  and  en- 
gendered false  heavens  and  apparent  churches. 
Thence  they  radiated  darkness  upon  the  earth, 
and  communicating  with  heaven  by  their  ex- 
cellent seeming,  and  with  hell  by  their  hearts, 
they  Suffocated  and  extinguished  the  divine 
light  which  flowed  down  worldwards  from 
above  the  heavens.  The  dispersion  of  this 
great  hypocrisy  was  the  divine  object  of  the 
judgment,  and  consequently  the  preservation 
of  the  balance  between  heaven  and  hell,  on 
which  human  freedom  is  founded.  '  The  first 
heaven  and  the  first  earth '  composed  of  the 
above  associations,  *  passed  away '  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner. 

254.  "  The  nations  and  peoples  of  seven- 
teen centuries  were  arranged  spiritually,  each 
according  to  its  race  and  genius :  those  of  the 
reformed  churches  in  the  middle,  the  Roman- 
ists around  them,  the  Mahometans  in  a  still 
outer  ring,  and  the  various  Gentiles  consti- 
tuting a  vast  circumference  to  the  area,  while ' 
beyond  all,  the  appearance  as  of  a  sea  was  the 
boundary.  This  arrangement  was  determined 
by  each  nation's  general  faculty  of  receiving 
divine  truths.  Visitation  was  then  made  by 
angels,  and  admonition  given,  and  the  good 
were  singled  out  and  separated  by  the  heaven- 
ly ministers.  Then  there  appeared  a  stormy 
cloud  above  those  seeming  heavens,  occasioned 
by  the  Lord's  especial  presence,  for  guard  and 
protection,  in  the  lowest  plane  of  the  real 
heavens ;  and  as  his  divine  influence  came  in 
contact  with  the  falsity  and  evil  of  those  who 
were  to  be  judged,  their  inward  parts  were 
manifested,  and  their  characters  roused  ;  in 
consequence  of  which  they  rushed  into  enor- 
mities. Then  were  there  great  political  earth- 
quakes, signs  -also  from  heaven,  terrible  and 
great,  and  distress  of  nations,  the  sea  and  the 
salt  water  roariiig.  These  changes  of  state 
were  accompanied  by  concussions  of  their 
houses  and  lands,  and  gaps  were  made  towards 
the  hells  underneath,  communication  with  which 
was  opened,  wherefrom  there  were  seen  ex- 
halations ascending  as  of  smoke  mingled  with 
sparks  of  fire.  At  this  time  the  Lord  ap- 
peared in  a  bright  cloud  with  angels,  and  a 
sound  was  heard  as  of  trumpets  —  a  sign  of 
the  protection  of  the  angels  by  the  Lord,  and 


LIFE    AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


65 


of  the  gathering  of  the  good  from  every  quar- 
ter. Then  all  who  were  about  to  perish  were 
seen  in  the  likeness  of  a  great  dragon,  with  its 
tail  extended  in  a  curve  and  raised  towards 
heaven,  brandishing  about,  as  though  to  de- 
stroy and  draw  down  heaven  ;  but  the  tail  was 
cast  down,  and  the  dragon  sank  beneath.  Af- 
terwards the  whole  foundation  subsided  into 
the  deep,  and  every  nation,  society  and  per- 
son was  committed  to  a  scene  corresponding 
outwardly  with  his  own  genus,  species,  and 
variety  of  evil ;  and  in  this  manner  the  new 
hells  —  the  prison  houses  of  the  first  Christian 
<^poch  were  formed  and  arranged. 

255.  " '  After  this  ihere  was  joy  in  heaven 
and  light  in  the  world  of  spirits,  such  as  was 
not  before  ;  and  the  interposing  clouds  between 
heaven  and  mankind  being  removed,  a  similar 
liglit  also  then  arose  on  men  in  the  world, 
giving  them  new  enlightenment.'  Such  is 
Swodenborg's  account  of  that  new  day  that 
dawned  in  the  last  century,  and  which  shines 
onward  since  to  joy  and  freedom. 

256.  "'Then,'  says  Swedenborg,  'I  saw 
angelic  spirits  in  great  numbers  rising  from 
below,  and  received  into  heaven.  They  were 
the  sheep,  who  had  been  kept  and  guarded  by 
the  Lord  for  ages  back,  lest  they  should  come 
into  the  malignant  sphere  of  the  dragonists, 
and  their  charity  be  suffocated.  These  per- 
sons are  understood  in  the  Word  by  the 
bodies  of  saints  which  arose  from  their  sep- 
ulchres and  went  into  the  holy  city ;  by  the 
souls  of  those  slain  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus, 
and  who  wex'e  watching ;  and  by  those  who 
are  of  the  first  resurrection.' 

257.  "Of  these  occurrences  our  Author  was 
a  witness  in  the  spiritual  world,  and  for  many 
years  before  th:>y  happened  he  had  a  presage 
of  them,  though  neither  he  nor  the  angels 
knew  of  the  period,  agreeably  to  the  declara- 
tion, that  of  that  hour  knoweth  no  man,  no, 
not  the  angels  which  are  in  heaven,  neither 
the  Son,  but  the  Father.  Yet  in  his  Diary 
(Feb.  13,  1748,  n.  765)  he  records,  that  '57, 
or  1657,  has  been  shown  him  in  vision  ;  the 
numbers  were  written  before  his  eyes,  but  he 
did  not  well  know  what  they  meant.'  It  was 
a  forecast  of  this  judgment,  which  happened 
in  the  year  1757,  and  took  many  mouths  to 
execute.  The  Romanists  were  judged  first, 
the  Protestants  at  some  interval  afterwards. 

258.  "  Since  the  last  judgment  no  one  is 
allowed  to  remain  in  the  world  of  spirits  more 
than  30  years,  whereas  pi-eviously  to  that  event, 
many  had  been  there  for  centuries.  There 
will  be  no  more  general  judgments,  because 
the  way  to  the  final  state  is  now  laid  down 
forever,  and  the  outward  man  can  no  longer 
differ  from  the  inward  in  the  spiritual  world. 

259.  "  We  have  dwelt  thus  long  upon  Swe- 
denborg's  doctrine  and  description  of  the 
Judgment,  because  it  illustrates  the  preten- 
sions of  his  writings  in  an  extraordinary  man- 
nei*,  and  is  the  postulate  of  the  descent  of  a 

y 


new  dispensation  to  the  earth,  of  which  he 
announced  himself  to  be  the  messenger. 
Moreover  it  explains  his  views  of  the  future, 
and  authorizes  liim  in  a  certain  sense  to  break 
with  history,  to  discard  the  philosophical 
stream  that  has  come  down  through  the  mid- 
dle ages,  and  to  look  for  new  developments 
of  the  race  in  no  mere  perfectioning  of  the 
past.  It  was  the  church  of  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem which  began  to  descend  from  God  out  of 
heaven  when  in  1757  the  'age'  of  primitive 
Christianity  had  been  'consummated.' 

Heaven  and  Hell. 
2G0.  "  The  next  work  which  we  have  to 
notice  is  his  doctrinal  narrative  of  Heaven  and 
Nell,  a  book  which  though  sufliciently  remark- 
able, yet  quells  literary  criticism.  We  would 
fain  speak  of  its  power,  but  are  wrested  irre- 
sistibly from  that  purpose,  and  compelled  to 
canvass  its  truth.  We  would  fain  discuss  its 
beauty  and  sublimity,  but  its  good  and  service 
will  have  all  place.  We  feel  invited  to  test 
its  reality  by  evidence,  but  its  moral  power 
appeals  only  to  self-evidence.  It  belongs  in 
short  to  a  new  literature,  shaping  and  fashion- 
ing itself  from  within  :  it  is  a  spiritual  growth, 
and  though  you  may  either  adopt  or  set  it 
aside,  you  can  neither  praise  nor  blame  it. 
This  is  one  reason  why  Swedenborg's  works 
have  obtained  such  little  notice ;  they  are  too 
impersonal :  you  may  speak  roughly  to  them, 
but  they  do  not  answer :  nothing  but  harmony 
or  sympathy  comprehends  them,  or  elicits  a 
response.  To  mere  criticism  they  are  lifeless 
and  uninteresting.  Their  region  lies  away 
from  brawls.  The  most  spirited  impugner 
does  not  even  contradict  them,  because  he  is 
not  where  thei/  are.  The  ether  can  only  be 
moved  by  the  ether,  or  by  something  still 
more  tranquil. 

261.  "The  work  we  are  considering  is  on 
the  life  and  laws  of  heaven  and  hell.  It  com- 
prises their  universal  gravitation,  the  appear- 
ances and  realities  of  their  inward  cosmogony 
not  less  than  the  fates  of  their  single  inhabit- 
ants. It  is  at  once  human  and  immense;  the 
soul's  sphere  becomes  the  law  and  order  of  a 
divine  creation.  It  is  no  ghostly  narrative, 
but  substantial  like  eartlily  landscapes,  only 
that  vices  and  virtues  are  its  moving  springs, 
and  it  is  plastic  before  the  eminent  life  of  man. 
Here  are  the  circumstances  to  which  the  heart 
aspires,  and  the  justice  which  the  poets  feign. 
Here  the  attributes  of  deity  are  conferred  in 
the  largest  measure  upon  the  creature,  and 
every  man  lives  in  a  world  minutely  and 
changefuUy  answering  to  his  mind  and  life. 

262.  "  Space  and  time,  with  all  their  con- 
tents, that  is  to  say,  the  universal  world,  de- 
termined by  love  and  wisdom,  and  correspond- 
ing, object  for  subject,  with  the  latter  — these 
constitute  the  spiritual  world.  In  the  heavens, 
therefore,  all  are  near  to  God,  because  all  love 
him,  and  love  is  nearness ;  moreover  all  are 


66 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG- 


near  tc  each  other  in  proportion  to  mutual 
love ;  and  hence  the  law  of  love  being  the 
spaoemaker,  combines  all  into  the  most  exact 
and  just  societies  ;  a  neighborhood  is  a  special 
affection,  a  district  is  an  affection  more  general, 
and  so  forth.  Love  is  combination,  decline  of 
love  is  removal,  hatred  is  opposition  and  contra- 
riety of  space.  All  moreover  are  surrounded 
by  lovely  and  productive  objects  by  the  same 
law,  for  love  is  with  these  objects,  and  they 
with  love.  Heaven  therefore  clothes  itself 
\\;ith  all  beauty.  The  opposite  to  this  is  the 
case  with  hell,  whose  inhabitants  are  indeed 
combined  by  similarity  of  passion,  but  dis- 
cord reigns  in  their  terrible  coagulations  :  all 
that  is  deformed  and  foul  in  nature  is  already 
in  the  hells,  whose  loves  it  etligies,  and  whose 
outward  kingdom  it  is.  In  both  states  all  the 
objects  are  spiritual-real ;  the  sun  of  heaven, 
never  setting,  but  always  in  the  east,  is  the 
sphere  of  the  Lord  ;  its  heat  is  his  goodness 
and  its  light  his  truth.  In  hell  there  is  no 
sun,  but  the  inhabitants  roam  in  darkness  cor- 
responding to  themselves,  ibr  they  are  dark- 
ness ;  their  light  is  artificial,  as  of  coal  fires, 
meteors,  ignes  fatui,  and  the  lights  of  night ; 
they  inhabit  scenery  of  which  they  are  the 
souls,  as  bogs,  fens,  tangled  forests,  caverns, 
charred  and  ruined  cities.  Such  is  the  group- 
ing of  man  towards  God,  of  man  also  to  his 
fellow-man,  and  of  man  towards  the  forms 
of  creation.  It  is  the  law  of  love  become  all- 
constructive,  and  extending  organically  through 
space  and  time,  that  produces  the  order  of 
heaven  and  hell. 

263.  "  Heaven  is  supremely  human, — nay 
more,  it  is  one  man.  As  the  members  of  the 
body  make  one  person,  so  before  God,  all  good 
men  make  one  humanity  :  every  society  of 
them  is  a  heavenly  man  in  a  lesser  form,  and 
every  angel  in  a  least.  The  reason  is,  that 
God  himself  is  an  Infinite  Man,  and  he  shapes 
his  heaven  into  his  own  image  and  likeness,  even 
as  he  made  Adam.  The  oneness  of  heaven 
comes  from  God's  unity  ;  its  manhood  from 
his  humanity.  Heaven  has,  therefore,  all  the 
members,  organs  and  viscera  of  a  man  ;  its 
angel  inhabitants,  every  one,  are  in  some  prov- 
ince of  the  Grand  Man.  Indefinite  myriads 
of  us  go  to  a  fibre  of  humanity.  Some  are  in 
the  province  of  the  brain  ;  some  in  that  of  the 
lungs ;  some  in  that  of  the  heart ;  some  in 
those  of  the  belly  ;  some  are  in  the  legs  and 
arms ;  and  all,  wherever  humanized,  that  is  to 
say,  located  in  humanity,  perform  spiritually 
the  otfices  of  that  part  of  the  body  whereto 
they  correspond.  They  all  work  together, 
however  spaced  apparently,  just  as  the  parts 
of  a  single  man.  Their  space  is  but  their 
palpable  liberty,  and  they  touch  the  human 
atoms  next  them  more  closely,  by  offices  which 
unite  them  in  God,  than  the  contiguous  fibres 
of  our  flesh.  Nothing  can  intervene  between 
those  whom  God  has  joined,  but  the  visible 
grandeur  of  all  things  at  once  cements  and 
emancipates  them. 


264.  "  Hell,  on  the  other  hand,  is  one  raon 
ster,  compact  of  all  spiritual  diseases,  and 
compressed  into  one  hideous  unity.  It  works 
by  coercions  for  all  those  evil  uses  that  human 
nature,  evil  in  its  ground,  requires  for  its  sub- 
sistence. It  stands  against  heaven,  foot  to 
foot,  member  against  member,  and  province 
against  province.  In  its  collective  capacity  it 
is  the  devil  and  Satan  ;  the  devil  is  the  name 
and  style  of  its  evil,  and  Satan  that  of  its 
falsehood. 

265.  "  Good  and  evil  spirits  are  attendant 
upon  every  man  ;  he  receives  from  them  all 
his  thoughts  and  emotions.  The  good  are 
ever  busy,  pouring  in  tendencies  to  virtue, 
with  intellectual  power  to  apprehend  and  ex- 
ecute it ;  the  evil  are  always  attempting  to 
drug  us  with  contrary  influences.  In  the  bal- 
ance between  their  agencies,  our  freedom  lives. 
Our  ti'ials  and  temptations  arise  from  these 
opposing  powers,  each  of  which  struggles  to 
possess  us  for  itself.  The  Lord  moderates 
the  conflict,  and  continually  preserves  the 
equilibrium.  This  doctrine  is  a  consequence 
of  the  oneness  of  all  creatures,  and  of  their 
spiritual  connectedness,  for  how  can  beings  so 
powerful  as  angels  and  spirits,  and  so  imme- 
diately above  and  beneath  us,  fail  to  operate 
upon  us  in  their  own  sphere  ?  Man  being 
only  a  recipient  organ,  it  is  in  the  nature  of 
things  tliat  the  creatures  next  him  in  the  scale, 
should  out  of  their  more  subtle  life  communi- 
cate themselves  in  vibrations  to  his  brain  and 
bodily  organs,  constituting  his  outward  spiritu- 
al world,  which  he  receives  according  to  his 
own  freedom.  His  lifelong  choice  of  these 
influences  determines  his  state  after  death, 
when  he  goes  to  his  fathers,  that  is  to  say,  to 
those  very  persons  of  whom  he  has  made 
himself  an  adopted  son,  by  doing  their  work 
in  this  lower  world.  So  by  his  deeds  here, 
he  chooses  his  company  forever. 

266.  '•  The  maintenance  of  a  world  like  the 
spiritual  gives  a  new  idea  of  the  divine  al- 
mightiness.  Where  every  thought  becomes 
real,  how  consummate  the  order  must  be,  to 
preserve  the  harmony.  Imagine  this  world, 
if  all  our  desires  and  thoughts  took  effect  upon 
their  objects !  What  destruction  would  ensue ! 
What  exquisiteness  of  spiritual  association 
then  is  requisite  to  perpetuate  such  a  state  ! 
What  communion  of  joys  there  must  be  in  the 
heavens  !  What  instant  crushing  of  lusts  in 
the  hells  !  The  same  divine  love  that  is  softer 
than  morning  in  the  one,  must  be  chains  of 
adamant  in  the  other,  or  the  inward  universe 
would  go  to  pieces  in  a  moment.  Verily  such 
a  society  requires  an  active  God. 

267.  "  Our  limits  forbid  other  details,  but 
wc  beg  the  thoughtful  reader  to  uoiice  the 
coher<;ncy  of  Swedenborg's  narration,  and  on 
consulting  the  Heaven  and  Hell,  to  observe 
the  reality  which  pervades  it.  Undoubtedly 
it  portrays  such  a  world  as  this  world  prepares 
for  ;  yea,  such    as  this  world  would  be  if  it 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


67 


could.  Our  sympatliics  reiich  up  into  it;  our 
trades  and  pi-ofessions  are  learnt  for  it ;  our 
inner  bodies  are  formed  in  and  like  our  outer 
to  inhabit  it ;  our  loves  and  friendships  are 
perpetuated  in  it  if  we  please ;  already  our 
worship  traverses  it  to  God  ;  our  Bible  in  its 
spiritual  splendor  is  there  ;  our  Savior  in  his 
humanity  is  its  soul  ;  and  indeed,  such  a 
world  is  the  home  for  which  our  nature,  and 
all  nature  yearns.  Ah  !  you  will  reply,  it  is 
too  much  founded  upon  human  love,  and  too 
congenial  to  our  eldest  thoughts  !  There  is 
truth  in  the  objection. 

268.  "  After  perusing  such  an  apocalypse, 
what  a  tsitler  seems  the  parliament  of  philoso- 
phers debating  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  It 
is  as  though,  at  this  date,  we  should  examine  the 
evidence  for  the  existence  of  mankind.  Once 
for  all,  the  question  is  killed  ;  and  whether 
Swedenborg  be  a  true  seer  or  not,  he  has  con- 
vinced us  at  any  rate  that  the  Platos  and 
Catos,  Seneca  and  Cicero,  were  ineffectual 
because  not  visionary,  and  that  their  words  are 
henceforth  waste  where  not  experimental. 
Worlds  can  only  be  explor.ed  by  travellers 
thither ;  reason  and  guessing  at  a  distance 
are  futile,  unless  the  feet  can  be  plucked  from 
the  old  goutiness,  the  mind  quit  its  fixed 
thoughts,  and  the  eye  alight  upon  the  facts. 
The  conditions  of  spirit-seeing  are  as  those 
of  nature-seeing :  the  man  and  the  sight  must 
come  together. 

269.  "  But    the   eternity    of    hell,  —  what 
does     Swedenborg    say    of    that    momentous 
creed?     In  the  first  place,  he  denies  that  any 
existence    is   fundamentally   punishment,    but 
on  the  contrary,  delight.      Hell  consists  of  all 
the   delights  of  evil ;  heaven   of  all  those  of 
goodness.     The  Lord  casts  no   one  into  hell, 
but  those  who  are  there  cast  themselves  tliither, 
and  keep  themselves  where  they  are.     It  is  the 
last  dogma  of  free  will,  —  that  of  a  finite  being 
perpetuating  forever  his   own    evil,   standing 
fast  to  selfishness  without  end,  excluding  Om- 
nipotence in  all  its  dispensations,  and  making 
the   'will  not'  into    an   everlasting   'cannot,' 
to  maintain  itself  out  of  heaven,  and  contrary 
to  heaven.     The  question    is,    whether    it    is 
true    of    man    experimentally;    and    further, 
whether  any  conceivable   benevolence  can  in- 
vent reform  for  every  sinner  ?      Damnation  is 
a   practical    question.     If  our    human  states- 
men can  abolish   the  prison  and  the  transpor- 
tation, the  fine  and   punishment,  and   draw  all 
men  into  the  social   bond,  then  doubtless  the 
Divine   Ruler  who  works  through  our  means, 
will  accomplish   more    than  this   in  the  upper 
region  in  the  fulness  of  his  eternal  days  :  but 
until  all  the  wickedness  of  this  world  can  be 
absorbed  and  converted,  we  see   little   hope 
from  practice  of  the  abnegation   of  the  hells. 
They  are,  says   Swedenborg,    the   prisons  of 
the  spiritual  world,  and  every  indulgence  com- 
patible with  the  ends  of  conserving  and  bless- 
ing the  universe,  is  accorded  to  the  prisoners. 


Moreover,  the  unhappy  are  not  tormented  by 
conscience,  for  they  have  no  conscience,  but 
their  misery  arises  from  that  compression 
which  is  necessary  to  keep  within  bounds 
those  who  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  Divine 
love,  and  tiie  outgoings  of  whose  terrible  life 
cannot  be  permitted  by  the  Lord.  Lusts 
which  truth  and  goodness  cannot  recognize 
are  the  worm  that  never  dies,  and  the  fire 
that  is  not  quenched.  The  collision  of  false- 
hoods is  the  gnashing  of  hell's  teeth.  Yet 
the  unhappiest  are  immortal,  because  they 
have  an  inalienable  capacity  to  love  and  ac- 
knowledge God,  and  this  capacity  for  union 
with  Him,  whether  exerted  or  not,  is  the 
postulate  of  religion  and  the  seed  of  immor- 
tality. 

270.  "  The  mistake  hitherto  has  lain  in 
conceiving  the  future  life  as  too  unlike  the 
present,  —  as  replete  with  Divine  interven- 
tions ;  whereas  the  divinity  works  in  both 
worlds  through  human  means,  and  in  the 
limits  which  He  sets  to  his  power,  creates  the 
freedom  of  his  children.  Within  that  freedom 
filled  with  his  laws,  (and  freedom  itself  is  but 
his  widest  law,)  he  allows  mankind  to  help 
themselves,  and  by  personal  efforts,  whether 
individual  or  social,  to  rise  or  fall,  as  the  CJise 
may  be.  It  is  only  where  freedom  works  it- 
self out  and  begins  to  die  —  when  sin  grows 
involuntary,  and  the  heavenly  space  granted 
to  a  world  is  corrupt  and  perishing,  that  a 
Divine  intervention  takes  place,  and  a  new 
religion  or  reattachment  to  God  is  effected 
thereby.  But  Omnipotence  meddles  not  with 
that  pure  power  which  it  has  previously  given 
away. 

Earths  in  the  Universe. 

271.  "  But  we  have  now  to  follow  our 
spiritua,l  traveller  through  extremely  foreign 
journeys  —  through  the  planets  of  our  own 
universe,  and  into  distant  solar  systems.  Ever 
since  astronomy  taught  us  that  the  stars  are 
estates  like  our  own  Avorld,  we  have  acquired 
a  curiosity  about  them  ;  we  desire  to  know 
whether  any,  and  what  sort  of  persons,  dwell 
there  ;  and  if  we  can  affirm  inhabitants,  the 
faith  takes  a  heart  which  beats  with  a 
natural  throb  and  foretaste  of  acquaintance- 
ship. Friendship  and  intercourse  with  the 
starry  people  is  a  want  with  every  faithful 
child  ;  God  gives  all  an  affectionate  curiosit}' 
ample  to  infold  Orion  and  the  Dogstar.  Swe- 
denborg felt  this  too,  for  he  knew  as  much  a.- 
the  astronomers,  and  had  moreover  rooted 
himself  in  the  belief  that  a  means  so  immense 
as  the  sun-strewn  firmament  was  not  meant 
for  the  little  mankind  and  the  little  heaven  of 
one  planet,  but  for  human  races  indefinite  ii. 
extent,  variety,  and  function.  Moreover,  the 
Grand  Man  or  heaven  is  so  immense,  as  to 
require  the  inhabitants  of  myriads  of  earths 
to  constitute  it ;  those  whom  our  own  earth 
supplies  nourish  but  a  patch  in  the  skin  of 
universal  humanity  ;  there  requires  immortal 


68 


LITE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


food  for  every  other  part,  and  planetary  sem- 
inaries in  divine  profusion  where  men  are 
reared.  The  plurality  of  the  angels  perfects 
heaven,  just  as  the  multitude  and  variety  of 
good  affections  perfects  the  human  mind.  Our 
traveller,  therefore,  knew  that  the  stars  were 
full  of  people,  and  he  soon  found  that  they 
were  not  inaccessible. 

272.  "  One  means  of  intercourse  with  other 
worlds  is  as  follows.  The  spirits  and  angels 
deceased  from  each  planet,  are,  by  spiritual 
affinity,  near  that  planet.  Every  man  also  is 
a  spirit  in  his  inward  essence;  and  if  the 
proper  eyes  be  opened,  can  communicate  with 
other  spirits.  In  the  higher  world  into  which 
he  is  thus  admitted,  space  and  time  are  not 
fixed,  but  are  states  of  love  and  thought. 
Now  this  being  the  case,  the  passage  through 
states  or  variations  of  the  mind  itself,  takes 
the  place  of  passage  through  spaces.  Pas- 
sage through  states  is  spiritual  travelling. 
Hence  when  Swedenborg  was  ten  hours  in 
one  instance,  and  two  days  in  another,  in 
reaching  certain  of  the  planets,  he  implies 
that  the  changes  of  state  in  his  mind  whereby 
he  approximated  to  the  native  spirits  of  that 
orb,  went  on  for  such  a  time,  or  rather  were 
of  such  a  quality.  So  also  if  any  spirit  could 
be  brought  into  the  same  state  with  the  spirits 
of  Saturn,  he  would  then  be  with  them,  because 
similarity  of  state  in  the  spiritual  world  is 
sameness  of  place.  Now  being  thus  with 
the  spirits  of  any  particular  earth,  if  the  men 
of  that  earth  had  communication  with  spirits 
(which  Swedenborg  avers  to  be  the  case  with 
nearly  every  planet  but  our  own),  the  travel- 
ler, through  the  spirits,  might  have  intercourse 
with  the  inhabitants,  and  might  see  the  surface 
of  their  earth  through  their  eyes.  It  was  by 
this  circle  that  our  author  visited  several 
worlds,  his  variations  and  approximations 
being  directed  by  the  Lord,  all  for  the  moral 
purpose  that  we  might  know  experimentally 
that  man  is  the  end  of  the  universe,  and  that 
where  there  are  worlds  there  are  men,  and 
that  we  might  be  taught  the  immensity, 
and  somewhat  of  the  plan  and  constitution  of 
the  inward  heavens. 

273.  " '  MaTi,'  says  Swedenborg,  '  was  so 
created,  that  whilst  living  in  the  world  among 
men,  he  should  also  live  in  heaven  among  the 
angels,  and  vice  versa  ;  to  the  end  that  heaven 
and  the  world  might  be  united  in  essence  and 
action  in  him  ;  and  that  men  might  know 
what  there  is  in  heaven,  and  angels  what  there 
is  in  the  world ;  and  that  when  men  die,  they 
might  pass  from  the  Lord's  kingdom  on  earth 
to  the  Lord's  kingdom  in  the  heavens,  not  as 
into  another  thing,  but  as  into  the  same,  where- 
in they  also  were  when  they  were  living  in 
the  body.' 

274.  "The  particulars  which  our  author 
has  given  respecting  other  worlds  are  homely 
enough,  and  more  remarkable  on  the  spiritual 
than  on  the  material  side.     The    spirits    of 


Mercury,   we   learn,  are   the   rovers   of   the 
inner  universe,  a  curious  correspondence  with 
the  style  of  the  heathen  Mercury  —  the  mes- 
senger   of    the    gods.     They    belong    to    a 
province  of  the  memory  in  the  Grand  Man, 
and  as  the  memory  requires  constant  supplies 
to  store  it  with  knowledge,  so  the  Mercurials, 
who  are  the  memories  of  humanity,  are  em- 
powered to  wander  about,  and  acquire  knowl- 
edges in    every   place.     The   people   of   the 
Moon  are  dwarfs,  and  do  not  speak  from  the 
lungs,  but  from  a  quantity  of  air  collected   in 
the  abdomen,  because  the  moon  has  not  an  at- 
mosphere   like  that  of   other   earths  :    which 
suggests  the  analogy  of  certain  of  the  lower 
animals  that  gulp  down    the  air,  and  give  it 
out    again    in   a    peculiar    manner ;    among 
others  a  species  of  frog,  which  makes  thereby 
a  thundering  sound  like  that  attributed  by  our 
traveller  to  the  Lunarians.     They  correspond 
in  the  Grand  Man  to  the  ensiform  cartilage  at 
the  bottom  of  the  breast  bone.     It  is  remark- 
able as   showing  the  limits  of  spiritual  seer- 
ship,  that   Swedenborg  speaks    of  Saturn   as 
the  last  planet  of  our  system  ;  his  privilege  of 
vision  not  enabling  him  to  anticipate  the  place 
of  Herschel.* 

275.  "  The  theological  particulars  in  the 
book  are  important.  We  are  told  that  the 
good  in  all  worlds  worship  one  God  under  a 
human  form ;  that  the  Lord  was  born  on  this 
earth  because  it  is  the  lowest  and  the  most 
sensual,  and  hence,  the  fitting  place  for  the 
Word  to  be  made  flesh.  By  virtue  however 
of  the  incarnation  here,  the  divine  humanity 
is  realized  for  the  entire  universe  in  the  other 
life,  all  being  there  instructed  in  the  realities 
of  redemption,  and  their  inward  ideas  there- 
by united  to  that  stupendous  fact.  Sweden- 
borg's  work  now  under  consideration,  may  be 
characterized  as  a  Report  on  the  Religion  of 
the  Universe. 


Doctrine  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
276.  "  The  Neiv  Jerusalem  and  its  Heavenly 
Doctrine  is  a  treatise  on  spiritual  ethics,  de- 
livering in  a  clear  manner  the  practical  part 
of  the  author's  system.  The  reader  of  it  will 
gain  a  high   idea  of  the   moral  requirements 


*  In  regard  to  Swedenborg's  staiejnent  concern iiii;  ttie  planet 
Saturn,  tlic  Ibllowing  are  the  facts.  In  A.  C  9104,  lie  says  — 
"  Some  of  the  spirits  of  this  earth  passed  to  the  spirits  of  the 
earth  Saturn,  who,  as  was  said  above,  are  afar  off  at  a  remark- 
able distance,  for  they  appear  at  the  anl  of  our  solar  world."  Ir» 
E.  U.  3,  he  says  —  "The  planet  Saturn  has  besides  a  large  lu- 
minous belt,  as  bcins  farthest  distant  from  the  sun,  which  belt 
supplies  that  earth  with  much  licht,  although  reflected."  What- 
ever may  be  made  of  the  expressions,  "  they  appear,"  and  "  as 
being  "  thus  distant  from  the  sun,  it  is,  at  least,  very  remarkable, 
if  Swedenborg  meant  to  say  that  Saturn  was  the  last  jilanet  in 
our  solar  system,  that  in  his  "  Principia,"  and  in  the  "  Worship 
and  Love  of  Ood,"  published  several  years  previously,  and 
about  40  years  before  the  discoveiy  of  the  seventh  planet  by  Her- 
schel, he  has  a  number  of  engravings  illustrative  of  the  planet- 
ary system,  in  all  of  which,  seven  planets  are  laid  down  ;  and 
he  expressly  says  that  "  there  were  seven  ftEtuses  brought  forth 
at  one  birth,  equal  in  number  to  the  planets  which  revolve  In  the 
grand  circus  of  the  world."  If  then,  there  were  "  limits  "  to  his 
"  spiritual  seership,"  which  we  do  not  doubt,  for  he  never  pre- 
tended that  it  was  unlimitrM,  the  query  is,  how  could  his  spiritual 
sight  be  shorter  than  his  scientific?  In  respect  to  there  being 
even  Hiore  than  sfiueji  planets,  it  must  be  remembered  that  thai 
was  his  scientific,  and  not  his  spiritual  statement.  We  now 
leave  the  reader  to  his  own  reflections.  —  Compiler. 


LIFE   AND   WHITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


69 


that  Swedenborg  makes  upon  Lim.  One 
doctrine  brouglit  out  in  strong  relief  is  the 
superiority  of"  tlie  alVectional  to  tiie  intellectual 
element,  the  predominance  of  good  over  truth, 
oi"  charity  over  faith,  and  of  deeds  over  words, 
before  God.  Prior  to  Swedenborg,  the  hu- 
man loves  or  affections  were  little  considered, 
but  he  shows  tliat  they  are  our  very  life,  that 
intelligence  is  their  minister,  and  that  their 
condition  determines  our  lot  in  the  future 
world.  There  is  no  point  in  his  psychology 
more  brilliantly  vindicated  than  this  main  law 
of  the  power  of  love.  At  the  end  of  the 
work  we  have  his  ideas  on  ecclesiastical  and 
*  civil  government,  which  are  eminently  those 
of  conjoint  liberty  and  order.  The  Lord's 
ministers  are  to  claim  no  power  over  souls, 
and  he  who  differs  in  opinion  from  the  minis- 
ter, is  peaceably  to  enjoy  his  sentiments,  pro- 
vided he  makes  no  disturbance.  The  dignity 
of  offices  is  only  annexed  to  persons,  but  does 
not  belong  to  them.  The  sovereignty  itself 
is  not  in  any  person,  but  is  annexed  to  the 
person.  Whatever  king  believes  contrary  to 
this,  is  "^ot  wise.  Absolute  raonarchs  who  be- 
lieve that  their  subjects  are  slaves,  to  whose 
goods  and  lives  they  have  a  right,  are  '  not 
kings,  but  tyrants.' 

277.  "  One  cannot  but  regret  the  absence 
of  biographical  details  from  this  part  of  Swe- 
denborg's  history.  The  reason  doubtless  is, 
that  whilst  in  London,  (where  we  presume  he 
spent  a  good  sliare  of  the  time  from  1747  to 
1758,)  he  had  no  acquaintance  with  whom  he 
sympathized  on  the  subjects  that  now  interest- 
ed him.  It  was  probably  not  until  his  theo- 
logical works  had  been  for  years  before  the 
public,  that  he  became  acquainted  with  those 
English  friends  who  have  left  some  record  of 
him.  Previously  to  this,  he  was  known  only 
to  those  with  whom  he  lodged,  or  had  busi- 
ness. Mrs.  Lewis,  his  publisher's  wife,  knew 
him  ;  and  '  thought  him  a  good  and  sensible 
man,  but  too  apt  to  spiritualize  thhigs.'  He 
was  also  fond  of  the  company  of  his  printer, 
Mr,  Hart,  of  Poppin's  Court,  Fleet  Street, 
and  used  often  to  spend  the  evening  there. 
But  these  worthy  people  contribute  no  partic- 
ulars to  our  biography. 

Spiritual  Sight.    Immanuel  Kant. 

278.  "Swedenborg  was  probably  in  Lon- 
don during  the  latter  part  of  1758  ;  the  year 
in  which  the  works  that  we  have  just  been 
si)eaking  of,  were  printed.  We  find  him  re- 
turning to  Gottenburg  from  England  on  the 
19th  of  July,  1759,  and  here  he  gave  a  public 
proof  that  he  had  a  more  spacious  eyesight 
than  was  usual  in  his  day.  Immanuel  Kant, 
the  transcendental  philosopher,  shall  be  our 
historian  of  the  occurrence  that  took  place. 

279.  " '  On  Saturday,  at  4  o'clock,  P.  M.,' 
says  Kant,  '  when  Swedenborg  arrived  at 
Gottenburg  from  England,  Mr.  William  Cas- 
tel  invited  him  to  his   house,  together  with  a 


party  of  fifteen  persons.  About  six  o'clock, 
Swedenborg  went  out,  and  after  a  short  inter- 
val returned  to  the  company,  quite  pale  and 
alarmed.  He  said  tliat  a  dangerous  fire  had 
just  broken  out  in  Stockholm,  at  the  Suder- 
mahn  (Gottenburg  is  300  miles  from  Stock- 
holm), and  that  it  was  spreading  very  fast. 
He  was  restless,  and  went  out  often.  He 
said  that  the  house  of  one  of  his  friends, 
whom  he  named,  was  ah'eady  in  ashes,  and 
that  his  own  was  in  danger.  At  8  o'clock, 
after  he  had  been  out  again,  he  joyfully  ex- 
claimed, "  Thank  God !  the  fire  is  extinguished, 
the  third  door  from  my  house."  This  news 
occasioned  great  jcommotion  through  the  whole 
city,  and  particularly  amongst  the  com])any  in 
which  he  was.  It  was  announced  to  the  gov- 
ernor the  same  evening.  On  the  Sunday 
morning,  Swedenborg  was  sent  for  by  the  gov- 
ernor, who  questioned  him  concerning  the  dis- 
aster. Swedenborg  described  the  tire  precise- 
ly, how  it  had  begun,  in  what  manner  it  had 
ceased,  jmd  how  long  it  had  continued.  On 
the  same  day  the  news  was  spread  through 
the  city,  and,  as  the  governor  had  thought  it 
worthy  of  attention,  the  consternation  was 
considerably  increased ;  because  many  were 
in  trouble  on  account  of  their  friends  and 
property,  which  might  have  been  involved  in 
the  disaster.  On  the  Monday  evening,  a  mes- 
senger arrived  at  Gottenburg,  who  was  de- 
spatched during  the  time  of  the  fire.  In  the 
letters  brought  by  him,  the  fire  was  described 
precisely  in  the  manner  stated  by  Sweden- 
borg. On  the  Tuesday  morning,  the  royal 
courier  arrived  at  the  governor's  with  the 
melancholy  intelligence  of  the  fire,  of  the  loss 
it  had  occasioned,  and  of  the  houses  it  had 
damaged  and  ruined,  not  in  the  least  differing 
from  that  which  Swedenborg  had  given  imme- 
diately it  had  ceased  ;  for  the  fire  was  extin- 
guished at  8  o'clock. 

280.  '' '  What  can  be  brought  forward  against 
the  authenticity  of  this  occurrence  ?  My 
friend  who  wrote  this  to  me,  has  not  only  ex- 
amined the  circumstances  of  this  extraordina- 
ry case  at  Stockholm,  but  also,  about  two 
months  ago,  at  Gottenburg,  where  he  is  ac- 
quainted witli  the  most  respectable  houses, 
and  where  he  could  obtain  the  most  authentic 
and  complete  information  ;  as  the  greatest 
part  of  the  inhabitants,  who  are  still  alive, 
were  witnesses  to  the  memorable  occurrence.' 

281.  "  Kant  had  sifted  this  matter,  and  also 
that  of  the  Queen  of  Sweden  (p.  12G-7  be- 
low), to  the  utmost,  by  a  circle  of  inquiries, 
epistolary  as  well  as  personal ;  and  his  narra- 
tive is  found  in  a  letter  to  one  Charlotte  de 
Knobloch,  a  lady  of  quality,  written  in  17()8. 
two  years  after  Kant  had  attacked  Sweden- 
borg in  a  small  work  entitled,  Dreams  of  ('■ 
Ghost  Seer  illustrated  by  Dreams  of  Meta- 
physics. His  account  comes,  therefore,  as  a 
suitable  testimony.  But  what  proof  is  so 
good  as  the  reappearance  of  the  facts  ?     Pow- 


ro 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


ers  and  events  of  the  kind  are  now  common 
enough  not  to  excite  surprise  from  their  rarity. 
Mesmerism  produces  a  percentage  of  seers 
equal  occasionally  to  such  achievements.  Nay, 
but  the  faculty  of  transcending  the  horizon  of 
space  and  the  instance  of  time,  is  as  old  as 
history  :  there  have  always  been  individuals 
who  in  vision  of  a  higher  altitude,  saw  the  re- 
fractions of  the  distant  and  the  future  painted 
upon  the  curtains  of  the  present.  At  any 
rate  Swedenborg  was  aware  of  the  faculty 
long  before  he  became  a  seer.  Thus  in  his 
Animal  Kingdom,  Part  VII.,  p.  237,  when 
speaking  of  the  soul's  state  after  death,  he 
has  the  following,  illustrative  of  its  powers  : 
'  I  need  not  mention,'  says  he,  '  the  manifest 
sympathies  acknowledged  to  exist  in  this  lower 
world,  and  which  are  too  many  to  be  recount- 
ed :  so  great  being  the  sympathy  and  magnet- 
ism of  man,  that  communication  often  lakes 
place  between  those  who  are  miles  apart. 
Such  statements  are  regarded  by  many  as 
absurdities,  yet  experience  proves  their  truth. 
Nor  will  I  mention  that  the  ghosts  of  some 
have  been  presented  visibly  after  death  and 
burial,'  &c.,  &;c.  To  account  for  events  like 
Swedenborg's  vision  of  the  fire  of  Stockholm 
(which  also  Robsahm  says  that  he  foretold), 
we  need  not  pierce  the  vault  of  nature ;  this 
world  has  perfections,  mental,  imponderable, 
and  even  physical,  equivalent  to  supplj^  the 
sense.  The  universe  is  telegraphically  pres- 
ent to  itself  in  every  tittle,  or  it  would  be  no 
universe.  There  are  also  slides  of  eyes  in  man- 
kind as  an  Individual,  adequate  to  converting 
into  sensation  all  the  quick  correspondence  that 
exists  between  things  by  magnetism  and  other 
kindred  message  bearers.  It  is  however  only 
fair  to  Swedenborg  to  say,  that  he  laid  no 
stress  on  these  incidental  marvels,  but  devoted 
himself  to  bearing  witness  to  a  far  more  pecu- 
liar mission. 

282.  "There  is  no  doubt  that  the  rumor  of 
this  affair  soon  travelled  to  Stockholm,  and 
coupled  with  the  strange  repute  in  which 
Swedenborg  was  already  held,  stimulated  cu- 
riosity about  him  on  his  return  to  the  capital. 
The  clergy,  as  may  be  imagined,  were  not  un- 
concerned spectators  of  the  doings  of  one  so 
intimately  connected  with  some  of  the  digni- 
taries of  the  Lutheran  church.  At  first  he 
had  spoken  freely  to  them  of  his  spiritual 
intercourse,  but  perceiving  their  displeasure 
excited,  he  became  more  cautious.  A  circum- 
stance that  occurred  showed  that  even  at  this 
time  (17G0)  they  were  longing  to  exercise  a 
superintendence  over  him.  They  observed 
that  he  seldom  went  to  church,  or  partook  of 
the  Holy  Supper.  This  was  owing  partly  to 
the  contrariety  of  the  Lutheran  doctrine  to 
his  own  ideas,  and  partly,  Robsahm  says,  to 
the  disease  of  the  stone  which  troubled  him. 
In  1760  two  bishops,  his  relations,  remon- 
strated with  him  in  a  friendly  manner  upon 
his  remissness.     He  answered  that   religious 


observances  were  not  so  necessary  for  him  as 
for  others,  as  he  was  associated  with  angels.  ^ 
They  then  represented  that  his  example  would 
be  valuable,  by  which  he  suffered  himself  to 
be  persuaded.  A  few  days  previously  to  re- 
ceiving the  Sacrament,  he  asked  his  old  do- 
mestics to  whom  he  should  resort  for  the  pur- 
pose, for  '  he  was  not  much  acquainted  with 
the  preachers.'  The  elder  chaplain  was  men- 
tioned. Swedenborg  objected  that  '  he  was  a 
passionate  man  and  a  fiery  zealot,  and  that  he 
had  heard  him  thundering  from  the  pulpit 
with  little  satisfaction.'  The  assistant  chap- 
lain was  then  proposed,  who  was  not  so  popu- 
lar with  the  congregation.  Swedenborg  said, 
'  I  prefer  him  to  the  other,  for  I  hear  that  he 
speaks  what  he  thinks,  and  by  this  means  has 
lost  the  good  will  of  his  people,  as  generally 
happens  in  this  world.'  Accordingly  he  took 
the  Sacrament  from  this  curate. 

Spiritual  Interconrse.  ' 

283.  "  It  was  not  however  the  clergy  alone 
who  felt  an  interest  in  watching  his  career, 
but  he  had  become  an  object  of  curiosity  to 
all  classes.  Supernaturalism  has  charms  for 
every  society,  whether  atheistic  or  Christian, 
savage  or  civilized,  scientific  or  poetic.  May 
we  not  say,  that  it  is  the  undercharra  of 
all  other  interests,  and  that  from  childhood 
upwards  the  main  expectation  of  every  jour- 
ney, the  hope  of  every  uncovering,  the  joy  of 
every  new  man  and  bright  word,  is,  that  we 
may  come  at  length  somewhere  upon  that 
mortal  gap  which  opens  to  the  second  life  ? 
Supernaturalism  in  all  ages  has  had  also  a 
commercial  side,  and  has  been  -cultivated  as  a 
means  to  regain  missing  property,  or  to  dis- 
cover hidden  treasures.  The  good  people  of 
Stockholm  were  perhaps  spiritual  chiefly  in 
this  latter  direction.  It  was  in  1761  that  Swe- 
denborg was  consulted  on  an  affair  of  the  kind 
by  a  neighbor  of  his,  the  widow  of  Louis  Von 
Marteville,  who  had  been  ambassador  from 
Holland  to  Sweden.  Curiosity  too  was  a 
prompting  motive  in  her  visit ;  and  she  went  to 
the  seer  with  several  ladies  of  her  acquaintance, 
all  eager  to  have  a  '  near  view  of  so  strange  a 
person.'  Her  husband  had  paid  away  25,000 
Dutch  guilders,  and  the  widow  being  again 
applied  to  for  the  money,  could  not  produce 
the  receipt.  She  asked  Swedenborg  whether 
he  had  known  her  husband,  to  which  he  an- 
swered in  the  negative,  but  he  promised  her, 
on  her  entreaty,  that  if  he  met  him  in  the 
other  world  he  would  inquire  about  the  re- 
ceipt. Eight  days  afterwards  Von  Marteville 
in  a  dream  told  her  where  to  find  the  receipt, 
as  well  as  a  hair-pin  set  with  brilliants,  which 
had  been  given  up  as  lost.  This  was  at  2 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  the  widow  alarmed, 
yet  pleased,  rose  at  once,  and  found  the  arti- 
cles, as  the  dream  described.  She  slept  late 
in  the  morning.  At  11  o'clock,  A.  M.,  Swe- 
denborg was  announced.      His  first  remark, 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


71 


before  the  lady  could  open  her  lips,  was,  that 
'  during  the  preceding  night  he  had  seen  Von 
Marteville,  and  had  wished  to  converse  witli 
him,  but  the  latter  excused  himself,  on  tlie 
t'round  that  he  must  go  to  discover  to  his  wife 
something  of  importance.'  Swedenborg  added 
that  '  lie  then  departed  out  of  the  society  in 
which  he  had  been  for  a  year,  and  would  as- 
cend to  one  far  happier  ; '  owing,  we  presume, 
to  his  being  lightened  of  a  worldly  care.  This 
account,  attested  as  it  is  by  the  lady  herself, 

through  the  Danish  General  Von   E ,  her 

second  husband,  was  noised  through  all  Stock- 
holm. It  ought  to  be  added,  that  Madame 
offered  to  make  Swedenborg  a  handsome  pres- 
ent for  his  services,  but  this  he  declined."  — 
WiVcinsun^s  Biography,  pp.  102-126. 

284.  It  was  in  the  same  year  (1701)  that 
Louisa  Ulrica,  the  Queen  of  Sweden,  desired 
to  have  an  interview  with  Swedenborg.  For, 
although  she  was  but  little  disposed  to  believe 
in  sucli  seeming  miracles,  she  was  neverthe- 
less willing  to  put  the  power  of  Swedenborg 
to  the  test.  .She  was  previously  acquainted 
ivith  the  Marteville  affair,  though  she  had 
never  taken  an}-^  pains  to  ascertain  the  truth 
of  it.  We  quote  from  M.  Thiebault,  "  Docu- 
ments," page  94.  '•  Swedenborg,  having  come 
one  evening  to  her  court,  she  had  taken  him 
aside,  and  begged  him  to  inform  himself  of 
her  deceased  brother,  the  Prince  Royal  of 
Prussia,  what  he  said  to  her  at  the  moment 
of  her  taking  leave  of  him  for  the  court  of 
Stockholm.  She  added,  that  what  she  had 
said  was  of  a  nature  to  i-ender  it  impossible 
that  the  Prince  could  have  repeated  it  to  any 
one,  nor  had  it  ever  escaped  her  own  lips  : 
that,  some  days  after,  Swedenborg  returned, 
when  she  was  seated  at  cards,  and  requested 
she  would  grant  him  a  private  audience ;  to 
which  she  I'eplied,  he  might  communicate  what 
he  had  to  say  before  the  company ;  but  Sweden- 
borg assured  her  he  could  not  disclose  his  er- 
rand in  the  presence  of  witnesses  ;  tliat  in  con- 
sequence of  this'intimation  the  queen  became 
agitated,  gave  her  cards  to  another  lady,  and 
requested  M.  de  Schwerin  (who  also  was  present 
when  she  related  the  story  to  us,)  to  accom- 
j)any  her:  that  they  accordingly  went  together 
into  another  apartment,  where  she  posted  M. 
de  Schwerin  at  the  door,  and  advanced  towards 
the  farthest  extremity  of  it  with  Swedenborg ; 
who  said  to  her,  '  You  took,  madam,  your  last 
leave  of  the  Prince  of  Prussia,  your  late  au- 
gust brother,  at  Charlottenburg,  on  such  a 
day,  and  at  such  an  hour  of  the  afternoon  ;  as 
you  were  passing  afterwards  through  the  long 
gallery,  in  the  castle  of  Charlottenburg,  you 
met  him  again ;  he  then  took  you  by  the  hand 
and  led  you  to  such  a  window,  where  you 
"Oould    not    be    overheard,    and    then    said    to 

you  these  words : .'       The  queen  did  not 

repeat  the  words,  but  she  protested  to  us  they 

were    the    very  same    her  brother   had    pro- 

-  Bounced,  and  that  she  retained  the  most  per- 


fect recollection  of  them.  She  added,  that  she 
nearly  fainted  at  the  shock  she  experienced : 
and  she  called  on  M.  de  Schwerin  to  answer 
for  the  truth  of  what  she  had  said;  who,  in 
his  laconic  style,  contented  Iiimself  with  say- 
ing, '  All  you  have  said,  madam,  is  perfectly 
true  —  at  least  as  far  as  I  am  concerned.'  I 
ought  to  add,  (INI.  Tbiebault  continues,)  that 
though  the  queen  laid  great  stress  on  the  truth 
of  her  recital,  she  professed  herself,  at  the 
same  time,  incredulous  to  Swedenborg's  sup- 
posed conferences  with  the  dead.  '  A  thou- 
sand events,'  said  she,  '  appear  inexplicable 
and  supernatural  to  us,  who  know  only  the 
immediate  consequences  of  them  ;  and  men  of 
quick  parts,  who  are  never  so  well  pleased  as 
when  they  exhibit  something  wonderful,  take 
an  advantage  of  this  to  gain  an  extraordinary 
reputation,  Swedenborg  was  a  man  of  learn- 
ing, and  of  some  talent  in  this  way;  but  I 
cannot  imagine  by  what  means  he  obtained 
the  knowledge  of  what  had  been  communi- 
cated to  no  one.  However,  I  haA'e  no  faith 
in  his  having  had  a  conference  with  my 
brother.'  "  M.  Thiebault  states  that  the  queen, 
as  well  as  her  brother  Frederic  the  Great, 
were  professed  atheists  :  this  accounts  for  her 
incredulity,  but  seems,  at  the  same  time,  to 
establish  more  fully  the  truth  of  Swedenborg's 
interview  witli  her  brother. 

285.  It  sliould  l)e  observed  however,  says 
Mr.  Noble,  that  "  Swedenborg  himself  never 
laid  any  stress  upon  these  supernatural  proofs 
of  the  truth  of  his  pretensions  ;  and  never  does 
he  appeal  to  them,  or  so  much  as  mention  them 
in  his  works.  How  strong  an  evidence  is 
this  of  his  elevation  of  mind  ;  and  of  his  per- 
fect conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  views  he 
was  made  an  instrument  for  unfolding,  with 
his  own  divine  appointment  to  that  purpose, 
as  standing  in  no  need  of  such  evidence  for  its 
support !  Could  it  be  possible  for  any  of  the 
merely  fanatical  pretenders  to  divine  commu- 
nications to  appeal  to  such  testimonies  of  su- 
pernatural endowment,  how  eagerly  would 
they  seek  to  silence  objectors  by  referring  to 
the  queens,  counts,  ambassadors,  governors, 
and  university  professors,  that  had  been  wit- 
nesses of  their  power !  But  it  is  precisely  on 
account  of  the  silencing  nature  of  such  evi- 
dence that  Swedenborg  declines  to  appeal  to 
it.  Doubtless,  however,  it  was  of  Divine 
Providence  that  occasions  arose  which  con- 
strained him  to  give  such  demonstrations,  and 
that  they  were  recorded  by  others :  because 
such  things  serve  for  conjirmations  of  the 
truth,  though  they  are  not  the  proper  grounds 
of  its  original  reception.  When  presented 
also  upon  testimony,  and  at  a  distance  of  time, 
they  lose  that  compulsive  character  which  they 
possess  when  they  take  place,  or  nearly  so,  before 
our  eyes  :  and  thus  they  may  then  become  use- 
ful to  draw  the  attention  of  receptive  miiids  to 
the  truth,  which,  wlien  known,  may  convince 
by  its  own  evidence."  —  Documents,  p.  102. 


72 


LIFE   AND   WIUTINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


Spiritual  Foresight. 

286.  "  The  t'uUowiiij,'  incident,  lirst  pub- 
lished by  Dr.  Taf'el,  and  translated  in  the  In- 
tellectual Repository,  rests  on  the  authority 
of  Professor  John  Benedict  Von  Scherer,  a 
distinguished  public  man  in  Germany,  who 
died  soon  after  1821.  The  llev.  Mr.  Moser, 
a  clergyman  at  Oclisenburg,  writes  to  Dr. 
Tafel  as  follows  :  — 

"  '  My  dear  Friend  :  —  Amongst  the  ex- 
ternal proofs  for  the  credibility  of  the  spir- 
itual revelations  of  Swedenborg,  1  do  not  find 
in  the  writings  you  have  already  edited,  that 
remarkable  prediction  of  Swedenborg's,  for  the 
communication  of  which  we  are  indebted  to  the 
late  Dr.  Scherer,  professor  of  the  French  and 
English  languages  at  our  university  (Tubin- 
gen). This  prediction  most  justly  deserves  to  be 
placed  by  the  side  of  those  other  remarkable 
occurrences,  such  as  those  relating  to  Queen 
Ulrica,  Madame  da  Marteville,  and  the  fire  at 
Stockholm,  &c.,  which  are  often  alleged  as  proofs 
of  Swedenborg's  communication  with  the  world 
of  spirits.  As  the  occurrence  in  question  ap- 
pears to  have  elapsed  from  your  memory,  per- 
mit me,  in  order  that  it  may  be  inserted  in  the 
Magazine,  to  relate  it  verJuttiin  [from  Dr. 
Scherer],  and  thus  to  bring  it  to  your  remem- 
brance; at  the  s.ame  time  I  must  leave  it  to 
your  exertions,  by  further  investigations  in 
Sweden  to  establish  the  truth  of  it. 

"  '  It  was  during  the  period  of  our  stud- 
ies at  the  university  fTubingen],  between 
the  years  of  1818  and  1821,  that  it  came  to 
our  knowledge  that  the  said  Professor  Scherer 
had  resided,  during  Swedenborg's  time,  at 
Stockholm,  as  secretary  or  attache  to  an  em- 
bassy, and  that  he  had  probably  learned  to 
know  Swedenborg  personally.  We  were,  con- 
sequently, both  induced  to  visit  the  professor, 
and  to  ascertain  from  him  what  he  might  have 
to  communicate  respecting  Swedenborg  per- 
sonally, respecting  remarkable  facts  recorded 
concerning  him,  and  also  respecting  the  re- 
ception of  his  doctrines  and  visions  in  Swe- 
den. The  professor,  who  was  greatly  ad- 
vanced in  years,  then  told  us,  "  that  at  Stock- 
holm, in  all  companies,  very  much  was  said 
concerning  the  spirit-seer,  Swedenborg,  and 
wonderful  things  were  recorded  respecting  his 
intercourse  with  spirits  and  angels.  But  the 
judgment  pronounced  concerning  him  was  va- 
rious. Some  gave  full  credit  to  his  visions  ; 
others  passed  them  by  as  incomprehensible, 
and  others  rejected  them  as  fanatical  ;  but  he 
himself  (Scherer)  had  never  been  able  to  be- 
lieve them.  Swedenborg,  however,  on  account 
of  his  excellent  character,  was  universally 
held  in  high  estimation." 

" '  Amongst  other  things  Prof.  Scherer 
related  the  following  remarkable  occurrence  : 
Swedenborg  was  one  evening  in  company  at 
Stockholm,  when,  after  his  information  about 
the  world  of  spirits  had  been  heard  with  the 


greatest  attention,  they  put  him  to  the  proof 
as  to  the  credibility  of  his  extraordinary  spir- 
itual communications.  The  test  was  this  r 
He  should  state  which  of  the  company  would 
die  first.  Swedenborg  did  not  refuse  to  an- 
swer this  question,  but  after  some  time,  in 
which  he  ajjpeared  to  be  in  profound  and 
silent  meditation,  he  quite  openly  replied : 
"  Olof  Olofsohn  will  die  to-morrow  morning  at 
forty-five  minutes  past  four  o'clock."  By  this 
predictive  declaration,  which  was  pronounced 
by  Swedenborg  with  all  confidence,  the  com- 
pany were  placed  in  anxious  expectation,  and 
a  gentleman,  who  was  a  friend  of  Olof  Olof- 
sohn, resolved  to  go  on  the  following  morning, 
at  the  time  mentioned  by  Swedenborg,  to  the 
house  of  Olofsohn,  in  oi'der  to  see  whether 
Swedenborg's  prediction  was  fulfilled.  On 
the  way  thither  he  met  the  well-known  ser- 
vant of  Olofsohn,  who  told  him  that  his  mas- 
ter had  just  then  died  ^  a  fit  of  apoplexy  had 
seized  him,  and  had  suddenly  put  an  end  to 
his  life.  Upon  which  the  gentleman,  tlirougb 
the  evidence  of  the  death  which  really  oc- 
curred [according  to  the  prediction],  was  con- 
vinced. At  the  same  time  this  particular 
circumstance  also  attracted  attention  :  the 
clock  in  Olofsohn's  dwelling  apartment  stopped 
at  the  very  minute  in  which  he  had  expired, 
and  the  hand  pointed  to  the  time.'"  —  InteL 
Repos.,  March,  1846. 

Political  Principles  and  Deliberations. 

287.  "  But  neither  Swedenborg's  spiritual 
intercourses,  nor  the  laborious  works  that  ht^ 
was  com{x>sing,  were  an  excuse  to  him  for 
neglecting  the  affairs  of  this  woi-ld  when  op- 
portunity required,  and  accordingly  in  1761 
we  find  him  taking  part  in  the  deliberations 
of  the  Diet  which  met  in  January  of  that 
year.  Three  memorials  are  preserved  which 
he  presented  to  the  Swedish  parlimnent  ■: 
one,  at  the  opening  of  the  Diet,  congratulating 
the  House  upon  its  meeting,  counselling  the 
redress  of  grievances  which  might  otherwise 
enable  the  disaffected  to  impair  and  destroy 
the  constitution,  and  especially  deprecating 
that  systematic  calumny  which  is  not  less  de- 
structive to  the  stability  of  governments  than 
to  public  and  private  character.  In  tivis  paper 
the  quiet  sage  expresses  his  preference  for 
that  mixed  form  of  monarchy  which  then 
prevailed  in  Sweden,  and  he  ends  as  he  began 
it,  with  a  powerful  appeal  to  the  members  to 
obviate  change  by  the  prosecution  of  useful 
reforms.  In  the  next  memorial  (whether 
they  were  spoken  by  himself  from  his  place 
we  do  not  know)  he  insists  upon  some  of  the 
same  topics,  but  mainly  upon  the  preservation 
of  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  upon  the 
French  in  preference  to  the  English  alliance ; 
the  latter  being  incompatible,  as  he  said,  with 
the  bond  between  England  and  Hanover, 
which  had  formerly  belonged  to  Sweden.. 
He  forcibly  expresses   the   evils  of  despotic 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


73 


governments,  in  which  i'uU  phiy  is  given  to  the 
hereditary  vices  of  the  sovereign,  and  de- 
nounces absolutism  as  alike  injurious  to  the 
ruler  and  the  people,  observing  that,  as  i'or 
the  latter,  '  it  is  unlawful  for  any  one  to  de- 
liver over  his  life  and  property  to  the  arbi- 
trary power  of  an  individual ;  for  of  these 
God  alone  is  Lord  and  Master^  and  we  are 
only  their  administrators  upon  earth.'  Es- 
pecially alluding  to  the  danger  in  which  a 
country  stands  that  is  thus  subject  to  an  indi- 
vidual, from  the  subtle  power  of  the  papacy, 
he  has  the  following,  which  may  serve  as  a 
specimen  of  his  style  in  these  documents  :  — 

"  '  It  would  be  tedious  to  enumerate  .ill  the  mis- 
fortunes and  tliO  grievous  and  dreadful  conse- 
quences wiiicli  might  happen  here  in  the  north 
under  a  despotic  government ;  I  will  mention 
therefore  only  one  —  popish  darkness,  —  and  will 
endeavor  to  exhibit  it  in  its  true  light. 

"  '  We  know  from  experience  how  the  Babylo- 
nian whore  (which  signifies  the  popish  religion) 
fascinated  and  bewitched  the  reigning  princes  of 
Saxony,  Cassell,  and  Zweibrucken,  also  the  king 
of  England,  shortly  before  the  house  of  Hanover 
was  called  to  the  British  throne,  and  bow  it  is  still 
dallying  with  the  Pretender  ;  bow  in  Prussia  like- 
wise, it  tampered  with  the  present  king,  when 
crown  prince,  through  his  own  father;  not  to  men- 
tion King  Sigismund  and  Queen  Christina  in 
Sweden.  We  are  well  aware,  too,  how  this  v.hore 
is  still-  going  her  rounds  through  the  courts  of  re- 
formed Christendom.  If,  therefore,  Sweden  were 
an  absolute  monarchy,  and  this  whore,  who  under- 
stands so  well  how  to  dissemble,  and  to  adorn  her- 
self like  a  goddess,  were  to  intrude  herself  into 
the  cabinet  of  a  future  monarch,  is  there  any  rea- 
son why  she  should  not  as  easily  delude  and  in- 
fatuate him,  as  she  did  the  above-mentioned  kings 
and  princes  of  Christendom  ?  What  opposition 
would  there  be,  what  means  of  self-protection, 
especially  if  the  army,  which  is  now  upon  a  stand- 
ing footing,  were  at  the  disposal  of  the  monarch  ? 
What  could  bishops  and  priests,  together  with  the 
peasantry,  do,  ag^Mnst  force,  against  the  determi- 
nation of  the  so-er eign,  and  against  the  crafty  cim- 
ning  of  the  Jesuits  ?  Would  not  all  heavenly 
light  be  dissipated  :  would  not  a  night  of  barba- 
rian darkness  overspread  the  land  ;  and  if  they 
would  not  be  martyrs,  must  not  the  people  bow  down 
the  neck  to  Satan,  find  become  worshippers  of 
images,  and  idolaters  ? 

"  '  The  dread  of  this  and  every  other  slavery 
which  I  need  not  here  describe,  must  bang  over  us 
for  the  future,  should  there  take  place  any  altera- 
tion in  our  excellent  constitution,  or  any  suspen- 
sion of  our  invaluable  liberty.  The  only  guaran- 
ty and  counter  check  against  such  calamities 
would  be  oath  and  conscience.  Certainly  if  there 
were  an  oath,  and  tiie  majority  were  sufficiently 
conscientious  to  respect  it,  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erty, and  all  that  is  valuable,  nnght,  indeed,  in 
every  kingdom  remain  inviolate  :  but,  on  the  otlier 
hand,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  papal  chair 
can  dissolve  all  oaths,  and  absolve  every  con- 
.ecience,  by  virtue  of  the  keys  of  St.  Peter.  It  is 
easy  for  a  monarch  to  assert,  and  with  every  ap- 
pearance of  truth,  that  bo  has  no  thought  of  or 
desire  for  absolute  rule  ;  but  what  each  fosters  in 
his  heart  and  keeps  studiously  apart  from  the  out- 
ward man,  is  known  only  to  God,  to  himself,  and 
to  his  private  friends,  through  whom,  however, 
10 


what  is  hidden  occasionally  manifests  itself.  1 
shudder  when  I  reflect  wjiat  may  happen,  and 
probably  will  happiMi,  if  private  interests,  subvert- 
ing the  general  welfare  into  a  gross  darkness, 
should  here  attain  the  ascendency.  I  must  observe, 
also,  that  I  see  no  diderenCe  betweeh  a  king  in 
Sweden  who  possesses  absolute  power,  and  an 
idol ;  for  all  turn  themselves,  heart  and  soul,  in  the 
same  way  to  the  one  as  to  the  other,  obey  his  will, 
and  worship  what  passes  from  his  mouth.' 

288.  "  The  third  memorial  is  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  finance,  and  is  as  follows :  — 

"  '  If  the  States  do  not,  during  this  diet,  make 
some  arrangement  for  the  gradual  recall  of  the 
notes  now  in  circulation,  and  tiie  substitution  of 
pure  coin  in  th(;ir  stead,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the 
present  prevailing  dearness  will  constantly  in- 
crease, until  the  country  becomes  exhausted,  when 
a  national  bankruptcy  in  all  paper  money  must  be 
the  consequence.  This  nmst  be  evident  to  every  re- 
flecting person,  when  he  considers,  that  a  note  of 
six  dollars  is  now  worth  only  three  dollars  in  plats 
(a  former  Swedish  copper  coin)  in  foreign  trade, 
and  two  in  domestic  ;  and  if  the  high  prices  still 
continue,  it  will  probably  come  down  to  one  dol- 
lar. In  such  case,  how  can  the  nation  be  pre- 
served from  ruin  ?  These  grievous  and  dreadful 
events  can  only  be  prevented  by  the  restoration  of 
a  pure  metallic  currency. 

'•  '  Many  plans  might  be  devised  and  proposed, 
to  compel  the  circulation  of  the  notes  at  their 
original  fixed  value,  and  thus  meet  the  high 
prices  ;  but  they  must  all  be  of  little  or  no  avail, 
with  one  exception,  and  that  is,  the  restoration  of 
a  proper  metallic  currency,  as  it  was  formerly  in 
Sweden,  and  is  now  in  every  other  country  in  the 
world.  In  money  itself  consists  the  value  of  notes, 
and  consequently  of  all  kinds  of  goods.  If  an 
empire  could  subsist  with  a  representative  cur- 
rency, and  yet  no  real  currency,  it  would  be  an 
empire  without  its  parallel  in  the  world.' 

289.  '•  We  have  no  further  details  of  Swe- 
denborg's  parliamentary  career;  only  we  learn 
from  Count  Iliipken,  (for  many  years  Prime 
Minister  of  Sweden,  and  during  that  time 
until  the  revolution  in  1772,  the  second  per- 
son in  the  kingdom.)  that  '  the  most  solid 
memorials,  and  the  best  penned,  at  the  diet  of 
1761,  on  matters  of  finance,  were  presented 
by  Swedenborg;  in  one  of  which  he  refuted 
a  large  work  in  4to.  on  the  same  subject, 
quoted  the  corresponding  passages  of  it,  and 
all  in  less  than  one  sheet.'  It  appears  also 
that  he  was  a  member  of  the  Secret  Commit- 
tee of  the  Diet,  an  office  to  which  only  the 
most  sage  and  virtuous  were  elected.  When 
we  consider  the  mountain  of  obloquy  which 
rested  at  that  day  on  a  spirit  seer,  who  more- 
over announced  in  his  own  person  a  new  com- 
mission from  the  Almighty,  we  must  grant 
that  there  was  a  wise  deportment  in  Sweden- 
borg, an  extraordinary  helpfulness  for  the 
public  service  to  maintain  him  in  such  a  posi- 
tion in  the  assembly  of  his  nation  ;  nor  can  it 
fail  to  reflect  credit  upon  Sweden  herself  that 
she  so  far  appreciated  her  remarkable  son  as 
not  to  accuse  him  of  any  disqualifying  mad- 
ness in  the  exercise  of  his  public  functions. 
That  tolerance  of  the   seer  in  the  statesmaa 


74 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL    SWEDEXDORG. 


heralds  a  new  code  of  sanity,  in  which  the 
clearest  sight  and  the  most  uncommon  gifts 
will  no  longer  be  held  to  be  less  sound,  than 
dull  routine  of  eye  and  understanding,  pro- 
vided the  stranger  accompaniments  are  backed 
by  virtue  and  common  sense. 

290.  " '  During  the  sittings  of  the  Imperial 
Diet,'  says  Robsahm,  '  he  took  great  interest 
in  hearing  what  was  done  in  his  absence  in 
the  House  of  Nobles,  in  which,  as  the  head  of 
his  family,  he  had  a  right  to  a  seat ;  but  when 
he  perceived  that  hatred,  envy  and  self-inter- 
est reigned  there,  he  was  seldom  after  seen  in 
the  House.  In  conversation  he  freely  ex- 
pressed his  disapprobation  of  the  discord  that 
prevailed  in  the  Diet,  and  adhered  to  neither 
of  the  parties  there,  but  loved  truth  and  jus- 
tice in  all  his  feelings  and  actions.' 

Sight  of  a  Death.     Contribution  to  Science. 

291.  "To  return  from  this  digression,  we 
now  recite  an  anecdote  which  makes  it  appear 
that  Swedenborg  had  passed  into  Holland  be- 
fore July,  1762.  'I  was  in  Amsterdam,'  said 
an  informant  of  Jung  Stilling,  '  in  the  year 
1762,  on  the  very  day  that  Peter  the  Third, 
Emperor  of  Russia,  died,  in  a  company,  in 
which  vSwedenborg  was  present.  In  the  midst 
of  our  conversation,  his  countenance  changed, 
and  it  was  evident  that  his  soul  was  no  longer 
there,  and  that  something  extraordinary  was 
passing  in  him.  As  soon  as  he  came  to  him- 
self again,  he  was  asked  what  had  happened 
to  him.  He  would  not  at  first  communicate  it, 
but  at  length,  after  being  repeatedly  pressed, 
he  said,  ''  This  very  hour,  the  Emperor  Peter 
III.,  has  died  in  his  prison,  (mentioning,  at  the 
same  time,  the  manner  of  his  death.)  Gen- 
tlemen will  please  to  note  down  the  day,  that 
they  may  be  able  to  compare  it  with  the  intel- 
ligence of  his  death  in  the  newspapers."  The 
latter  subsequently  announced  the  Emperor's 
death,  as  having  taken  place  on  that  day.'  "  — 

Wilkhis'on^s  Biography,  pp.  127-132. 

292.  In  1763,  we  find  that  Swedenborg,  as 
a  member  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences 
of  Stockholm,  produced  an  article  oh  Inlaid 
Work  in  Marble.  "  He  was  a  worthy  mem- 
ber," says  Sandel,  "  of  this  Royal  Academy  ; 
and  though  before  his  admission  into  it,  he 
had  been  engaged  with  subjects  different  from 
those  which  it  cultivates,  yet  he  was  not  will- 
ing to  be  a  useless  associate.  He  enriched 
our  memoirs  with  an  article  On  Inlaid  Work 
in  MarhUfor  Tables,  and  for  Ornamental  Pur- 
poses generally."  This  memoir  (in  Swedish) 
may  be  seen  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Acad- 
emy for  1763,  vol.  xxiv.,  pp.  107-13. 

293.  "  This  year  also,  our  author  published 
at  Amsterdam  the  following  six  works  :  1.  The 
Doctrine  of  the  New  Jerusalem  respecting  the 
Lord.  2.  The  Doctrine  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
respecting  the  Sacred  Scripture.  3.  I'he  Doc- 
trine of  the  Neu^  Jerusalem  respecting  Faith. 
i.   Hie  Doctrine  of  Life  for  the  New  Jerusa- 


lem. 5.  Continuation  respecting  the  Last  Judg- 
ment and  the  Destruction  of  Babylon.  6.  An- 
gelic Wisdom  concerning  the  Divine  Love  and 
the  Divine  Wisdom.  We  have  now  to  devote 
a  brief  attention  to  the  contents  of  these  sev- 
eral works. 

Doctrine  of  the  Lord. 

294.  "  Tlic  Doctrine  of  the  Lord  contains 
our  author's  scriptural  induction  of  the  divini- 
ty of  Christ,  of  the  personality  of  the  divine 
nature,  and  of  the  fact  and  meaning  of  the  in- 
carnation. The  theist  asks  the  question.  What 
is  God  ?  but  Swedenborg  the  far  deeper,  and 
more  childlike  question.  Who  is  God  ?  one 
which  seems  very  infantine  to'  our  theological 
artificiality  and  old  want  of  innocence.  Now 
in  this  work  the  Godhead  of  our  Savior  is 
made  to  rest  on  the  whole  breadth  of  Scrip- 
ture authority ;  and  is  presented  as  the  last 
principle  and  the  highest  theory  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  The  author  does  not  proceed  by 
the  erection  of  particular  texts  into  standards, 
but  elicits  his  results  from  the  general  face  of 
revelation.  His  views  of  the  Trinity  are 
given  with  clearness,  and  their  substance  is, 
that  there  is  a  trinity  (not  of  persons  but)  of 
person,  in  the  Godhead,  and  that  Christ  is  the 
person  in  whom  the  trinal  fulness  dwells. 

295.  "  In  this  creed,  Deity  is  the  essential 
and  infinite  Man,  presented  to  the  perceptive 
love  of  the  earliest  races,  but  to  the  very 
senses  of  the  latest.  If  God  can  be  in  contact 
with  our  highest  faculties,  —  can  create  him- 
self into  the  sphere  of  our  hearts  and  minds, 

—  there  is  no  limiting  his  power  to  descend 
to  our  other  faculties,  and  to  become  extant  as 
a  man  among  men,  —  as  a  part  of  the  world 
among  other  parts.*  Nay,  by  the  rules  of 
tiie  soundest  ])hilosophy,  we  ought  to  look  for 
Him  in  this  field,  and  hence  the  question  of 
Who  he  is  becomes  paramount.     Now  when 

the  first  bond  was  broken  —  when  the  eldest 
religion  perished  —  from  that  moment  was 
another  bond  required,  and  an  incarnation 
was  necessary.  This  was  seen  by  the  ancient 
people,  and  as  a  part  of  the  divine  logic  of 
creation,  they  expected  the  Messiah,  and  even 
loved  to  have  posterity,  because  the  stream 
of  childhood  ever  pointed  to  the  second  Adam, 
who  was  to  be  born  in  tlve  fulness  of  time. 
He  came  at  the  end  of  the  Jewish  church, 
when  the  last  link  of  the  old  covenant  was 
broken,  and  He  himself  constituted  a  new  and 
everlasting  covenant,  uniting  man  by  his  very 
senses  with  an  object  'divinely  sensual'  — 
with  God  himself  manifest  in  the  flesh. 

296.  "There  had  been  upon  this  earth  a 
succession  of  churches,  each  with  its  own  bond, 
or  its  peculiar  religion.     The  Adamic  church 

—  the  Adam  of  Genesis  —  was  a  church  of 


*  If  God  can  be  inspirituate,  surely  he  can  also  be  incarnate; 
for  spirit  is  more  bodily  than  flesh.  To  deny  the  possibility  of 
the  Incarnation,  is  a  denial  throughout  the  soul  of  tlie  possibility 
(if  (Jod's  presence,  and  a  resolution  of  all  the  relig'ous  ideas  iuto 
a  Oeilic  seltif/iness,  such  as  Fichte  preached 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


celestial  love,  with  wisdom  radiating  from  the 
inmost  heart,  in  harmony  with  the  paradisal 
creation,  and  naming  the  creatures  after  its 
own  truth.  This  was  Eden,  the  only  heaven 
which  has  yet  existed  upon  earth.  To  this 
elevated  church  the  Lord  was  a  divinely  an- 
gelic man,  seen  by  celestial  perceptions,  and 
even  represented  to  the  senses  ;  for  the  senses 
opened  into  heaven.  Tliis  church  descended 
through  many  periods,  which  are  typified  in 
the  Word  as  the  posterity  of  Adam ;  and  its 
consummation  was  the  flood,  when  it  perished, 
and  only  Noah  and  his  sons,  —  a  lower  or 
spiritual  church,  survived  that  suffocation 
whereby  the  race  was  extinguished  so  far  as 
breathing  the  highest  atmosphere  was  con- 
cerned ;  the  Noachists  however  living  in  a 
new  disj)ensation,  to  respire  a  secondary  re- 
ligion. Every  such  declension  is  a  veritable 
drowning,  in  which  the  higher  perceptions 
cease,  ajid  a  certain  prepared  remnant  of  the 
universal  humanity  survives  to  people  a  new 
dry  land  on  a  lower  level.  The  celestial 
church  had  for  its  spring  spontaneous  love ; 
the  spiritual  church,  on  the  other  hand,  con- 
science. Even  the  latter,  however,  did  not 
stand,  but  its  decay  is  written  from  Noah 
to  Abraham,  when  '  the  angel  of  Jehovah ' 
was  no  longer  manifested  to  any  faculty. 
The  two  realities  of  the  church,  love,  and 
conscience  as  a  ground  of  faith,  having  been 
destroyed  in  the  soul,  a  church  of  formalities 
was  the  only  descent  remaining,  and  this  was 
the  Jewish  dispensation,  which  however  was 
not  a  church,  but  only  the  representation  of 
one.  Obedience  was  the  spring  of  this  last 
covenant,  and  so  long  as  the  .people  kept 
it,  natural  and  national  blessings  were  given 
them  from  on  high.  At  length  even  obe- 
dience came  to  an  end,  and  neither  victo- 
ries in  war,  nor  harvests  divinely  given,  nor 
terrors  denounced  by  prophets,  nor  actual  evil 
fortune,  could  keep  the  people  to  their  bond. 
The  basis  of  creation  could  no  longer  support 
the  falling  superstructure.  The  resources  of 
tinite  humanity  were  exhausted,  and  it  only 
remained  for  Him  who  was  the  Creator,  to 
become  the  Redeemer  —  for  him  who  was  the 
Alpha  to  become  the  Omega  of  his  work. 
He  came  into  the  world  by  the  world's  ways 
of  birth,  that  he  might  absorb  the  world,  and 
be  under  it  sustaining  as  above  it  creating, — 
that  is  to  say,  be  All  in  all,  the  First  and  the 
La.st.  The  infinite  entered  the  real  world  by 
the  real  means  —  by  the  gates  of  generation, 
and  the  Lord  became  incarnate  through  the 
Virgin  Mary.  All  his  progress  also  was  real, 
and  through  mundane  laws  ;  and  thus  his 
sensual  and  maternal  humanity  was  united 
with  his  divinity  by  the  like  trials — by  the 
like  education,  —  as  we  ourselves  experience 
in  the  regeneration.  Swedenborg's  view  of 
the  Lord's  life  is  indeed  totally  practical,  and 
the  life  of  every  regenerating  man  is  an  image 
of  that  process  whereby  the  maternal  humanity 


became  a  divine  humanity,  the  Son  of  God, 
God  with  us,  Jesus  Christ,  God  and  Man. 
The  subject  cannot  be  thought  of  from  meta- 
physical postulates,  but  only  from  a  life  in 
harmony  with  it,  tliat  is  to  say,  from  the  pro- 
cess whereby  each  man  subdues  his  own  sen- 
suality and  evil,  unites  his  outward  with  his 
inward  mind,  and  finally  becomes  a  spiritual 
person  even  in  whatever  pertains  to  the  exer- 
cise of  his  senses.  In  the  Lord  however  all 
that  which  in  us  is  finite,  was,  and  is.  infinite  ; 
and  thus  instead,  like  us,  of  only  subduing 
those  hellish  minds  Avhich  are  immediate  to 
ourselves,  his  redeeming  victories  over  selfish- 
ness and  worldliness,  subjugated  all  that  is 
hellish  —  in  the  language  of  Swedenborg,  all 
the  hells  ;  and  now  holds  them,  for  whosoever 
lives  in  and  to  Him,  in  everlasting  subjugation. 
This  is  redemption,  and  this  was  the  final  i)ur- 
pose  for  which  the  Lord  assumed  humanity, 
and  appeared  upon  this  earth,  his  operations 
upon  which  extend  through  all  systems  of 
worlds,  and  from  eternity  to  eternity.  These 
are  the  stages  through  which  the  Lord  pre- 
sented Himself  according  to  our  need,  first  as 
a  God-angel,  and  lastly  as  a  God-man. 

297.  "'The  trinity  then  is  in,  and  from  Je- 
sus Christ,  the  new  name  of  our  God.  The 
Father  is  his  divine  love ;  the  Son  is  his 
divine  wisdom,  that  is  to  say,  the  divinely 
human  form  in  which  he  is  self-adapted  to  his 
creatures,  or  a  personal  God ;  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  the  influence  which  he  communicates  to  in- 
dividuals and  churches.  This  trinity  is  im- 
aged in  the  soul,  body,  and  operation  of  ev- 
ery man.  The  Father  is  inaccessible  to  us 
out  of  Christ,  even  as  our  own  souls  are  not 
to  be  reached  by  others  but  through  our  bodies. 
All  worship  therefore  is  to  be  directed  to  Je- 
sus Christ  alone ;  and  in  the  heavens  the 
wisest  angels  know  no  other  father.  Thus 
there  is  oneness  and  body  in  our  adoration. 

Divine  Love  and  Wisdom. 

298.  "  The  Divme  Love  and  Wisdom,  which 
we  notice  next,  furnishes  the  rational  counter- 
part to  the  Doctrine  of  the  Lord.  It  is  a  trea- 
tise on  the  divine  attributes,  in  which  affirma- 
tion and  self-evidence  are  the  method,  and  the 
truly  human  testifies  of  the  divine.  Man,  it 
is  clear,  must  think  of  God  as  a  man  —  must 
think  from  his  own  experience  towards  divine 
virtues — from  his  own  deeds  towards  God's 
deeds,  which  are  creation.  The  rmist  in  this 
case  is  a  necessity  of  our  being,  which  is  the 
same  thing  as  to  say,  that  it  is  God's  ordinance, 
and  the  true  method.  It  is  therefore  a  verity 
substantial  as  our  souls,  nay  consubstantial 
with  their  Maker.  No  idealism  then  here  in- 
tervenes, but  we  touch  the  solidity  of  eternal 
truth,  and  in  our  minds  and  bodies  we  have 
an  attestation  and  vision  of  the  Creator.  But 
if  God  be  the  infinite  man,  the  universe  which 
proceeds  from  him  must  represent  man  in  an 
image,  and  all  the  creatures  must  likewise  so 


76 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF    EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


represent.  Mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal 
forms,  nay  atmospheres,  planets  and  suns,  are 
then  nothing  less  than  so  many  means  and 
tendencies  to  man,  on  different  stages  of  the 
transit,  and  finite  man  resumes  them  all,  pro- 
claims visibly  their  end,  and  may  connect  them 
with  their  fountain.  It  is  throughout  a  sys- 
tem of  correspondences,  all  depending  upon 
the  activity  of  a  personal  God,  as  the  sub- 
stance of  the  latter  depends  upon  the  inter- 
vention of  God  in  history,  as  Jesus  Christ. 
Remove  from  the  centre  of  the  system  the 
position  that  God  is  a  man,  and  he  becomes 
necessarily  unintelligible  to  mankind  ;  he  has 
made  them  think  of  him  otherwise  than  as  he 
is;  they  communicate  with  him  by  no  religion, 
but  the  beginning  of  their  knowledge  is  dark- 
ness, its  object  a  mere  notion,  and  their  love 
falls  into  a  void:  there  is  in  short  no  corre- 
spondence between  the  Creator  and  any  crea- 
ture. Maintain  however  that  master  position, 
and  humanity  is  the  way  to  the  Divine  Hu- 
manity, the  high  road  of  the  living  truth. 

299.  "  The  path  by  which  God  passes 
through  heaven  into  nature  is  laid  down  in 
distinct  rf«^rees,  and  '  the  doctrine  of  degrees  ' 
furnishes  a  principal  interest  with  Swedenborg 
in  these  elucidations.  Degrees  are  the  sepa- 
rate steps  of  forms  or  substances,  the  measured 
walk  of  the  creative  forces  :  thus  the  will  in 
one  degree  is  the  understanding  in  the  next, 
and  the  body  in  the  third  :  the  animal  in  the 
highest  is  the  vegetable  in  the  second,  and  the 
mineral  in  the  lowest:  and  all  these  are  one, 
like  soul  and  body;  and  are  united,  and  each 
uses  the  lower,  by  the  handles  of  its  harmony 
with  inferior  utilities  ;  just  as  a  man  is  united 
with,  and  makes  use  of,  the  various  instru- 
ments which  extend  the  powers  of  his  mind 
and  arms  through  nature.  The  world  there- 
fore is  full  of  interval  and  freedom,  and  in  the 
movements  of  each  creature,  whereby  it  lays 
hold  of  whatever  supports  it,  the  whole  be- 
comes actively  one,  and  marches  forward  in 
the  realms  of  use,  where  it  meets  the  Om- 
nipotent again. 

The  Sacred  Scripture. 

300.  "  The  Doctrine  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
ture is  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord,  and  of  the 
manhood  of  God,  in  its  middle  form,  for  the 
Word  is  the  wisdom  whereby  both  the  world 
was  made  and  man  is  regenerated.  It  is  a 
law  of  divine  order,  that  whatever  is  omni- 
present and  all-prevalent,  is  also  in  time  cen- 
tred in  its  own  Ibrm  ;  for  no  creative  attribute 
is  lost  by  diffusion,  but  reappears  in  fuller 
splendor  when  its  orb  is  complete.  This  is 
the  order  of  the  incarnation.  And  so  also 
when  the  Word  has  created  all  things,  and 
moved  through  humanity,  when  deep  has 
called  unto  deep,  and  speech  has  overflowed 
from  human  tongues,  the  same  Word  takes  at 
last  a  form  among  its  creatures,  and  appears 
among  our  words  as  the  Book  of  God.     Its 


form  in  this  case  is  determined  by  those  to 
whom  it  comes.  It  is  given  in  the  lowest 
speech,  that  it  may  contain  all  speech,  and  be 
adequate  to  the  whole  purpose  of  redeeming 
mankind.  Such  a  Word  is  the  Bible.  Be- 
fore the  present  Bible,  however,  there  existed 
an  ancient  Word,  (still  extant,  according  to 
Swedenborg,  in  Great  Tartary),  of  which  the 
Book  of  Jashur,  the  Wars  of  Jehovah,  and 
the  Enunciations  formed  part :  this  was  the 
divine  voice  to  an  earlier  humanity.  The 
Word  which  we  now  possess  is  written  in  four 
styles,  ^he,  first  is  by  pure  correspondences 
thrown  into  an  historical  series  ;  of  this  charac- 
ter are  the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis 
narrating  down  to  the  call  of  Abraham.  The 
second  style  is  the  historical,  consisting  of  true 
historical  facts,  but  containing  a  spiritual 
sense.  The  third  style  is  the  prophetical. 
The  fourth  style  is  that  of  the  Psalms,  be- 
tween the  prophetical  style  and  common 
speech. 

301.  "  It  is  the  divine  sense  within  the  let- 
ter that  constitutes  the  holiness  of  the  Bible : 
those  books  that  are  wanting  in  this  sense  are 
not  divine.  The  following  books  are  the  pres- 
ent Word.  '  The  five  books  of  Moses,  the 
book  of  Joshua,  the  book  of  Judges,  the  two 
books  of  Samuel,  the  two  books  of  Kings,  the 
Psalms  of  David,  the  Prophets,  Isaiah,  Jere- 
miah, the  Lamentations,  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  Ho- 
zea,  Joel,  Amos,  Obadiah,  Jonah,  Micah, 
Nahum,  Habakkuk,  Zephaniah,  Haggai,  Zech- 
ariah,  Malachi  ;  and  in  the  New  Testament, 
the  four  Evangelists,  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke, 
John,  and  the  Apocalypse.' 

302.  "  The  Word  exists  in  the  heavens 
equally  as  upon  the  earth,  but  in  its  spiritual 
and  celestial  senses.  Its  stupendous  powers 
and  properties  are  there  evident,  examples 
of  which  are  given  by  Swedenborg.  If  it  is 
read  in  holy  moods,  heaven  sympathizes  ;  the 
devout  mind  enters  it  as  a  Sheckinah,  and  is 
angel-haunted  :  when  love  and  innocence  read 
it  upon  earth,  its  inward  life  is  perused  equiv- 
alently  by  special  angels,  and  the  letter  in  cor- 
respondence becomes  divine  and  holy.  Es- 
pecially so  when  little  children  read  it,  and  its 
literal  sense  is  offered  obediently  to  the  in- 
forming influx.  In  such  moments  the  veil  is 
rent,  and  a  marriage  of  heaven  and  earth  is 
consummated.  The  j^erpetual  holiness  of  the 
Word  to  us,  depends  upon  no  'mechanical  in- 
spiration ; '  viewed  as  a  book,  the  Bible  is 
dead  like  other  books,  but  the  mind  that  ap- 
proaches it,  is  influenced  as  it  deserves,  and 
spirit  and  life  come  down  accordingly.  The 
affinities  that  constitute  presence  in  the  other 
life,  illustrate  the  character  of  the  Word. 
The  letter  is  truth  in  a  fixed  circumstance, 
answering  to  the  Lord  and  the  whole  heaven, 
and  he  who  I'eads  it  aright,  engenders  for 
himself  divine  and  spiritual  associations. 
AVithin  it  dwells  the  living  God.  The  con- 
ditions of  its  inspiration  are  like  those  of  the 


LIFE  AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


77 


animation  of  our  bodies.  The  letter  as  well 
as  the  body  is  in  itself  motionless  and  inani- 
inate  ;  but  both  have  souls,  and  when  man- 
kind addresses  the  literal  Word,  it  hears  and 
quickens  from  its  divine  life,  as  our  frames, 
when  objects  strike  them,  feel  and  act  from 
the  life  within. 

303.  "  This  assertion  of  the  "Word's  divini- 
ty implies  a  counter  statement  regarding  the 
writers  of  the  l>ible.  The  more  tiie  genius 
in  any  work,  the  less  is  the  work  its  author's  ; 
the  more  the  property,  the  less  can  it  be 
owned.  No  man  ever  claims  his  inspired  mo- 
ments, until  afterwards,  when  he  is  dis- 
inspired.  The  diriniiij  however  of  a  work 
abnegates  its  instruments,  l(;t  them  have  been 
as  busy  as  they  will :  they  are  mere  tools, 
chosen  only  to  deposit  the  work  in  some  one 
place  or  age.  The  inspired  penmen  then  are 
simply  clerks,  notwithstanding  that  their 
names  appear  upon  the  letter,  fitting  it  to 
Jewisli  or  Christian  times.  The  patriarchs, 
prophets,  psahnists  and  evangelists  are  not 
holy  men  ;  they  are  not  even  venerable  for 
the  most  part,  but  the  voice  of  sacred  history 
itself  generally  assails  them.  '  Their  names,' 
says  Swedenborg,  'are  unknown  in  heaven.' 
There  are  no  saints  with  earthly  names,  but 
only  sinners,  scarlet  more  or  less.  God's  is 
all  the  glory,  but  Abraham,  Moses,  David  or 
John,  are  plain  mortals  like  ourselves,  entitled 
to  no  great  consideration  when  their  office  is 
laid  aside,  and  their  divine  insignia  are  put 
off.  The  men  '  after  God's  own  heart,'  are 
only  so  for  a  time  and  a  mission :  every  one  is 
'  a  man  after  God's  own  heart '  for  the  func- 
tions that  he  does  best.  Holiness  is  not  in- 
volved. The  Jews,  the  chosen  people  of  God, 
were  chosen  because  they  were  the  worst  of 
people,  for  redemption  begins  at  the  bottom. 
In  admitting  therefore  the  divinity  of  the 
Word,  we  rid  ourselves  of  the  Bible  writers, 
and  their  idiosyncrasies ;  and  we  know  that 
as  the  fixed  Word  was  produced  through  them 
they  necessarily  occupy  the  lowest  stratum  of 
human  history. 

304.  "  We  have  not  space  here  to  mention 
the  various  modes  of  inspiration  (by  voices, 
visions,  &c.)  recounted  by  Swedenborg  from 
the  facts  of  the  case  and  the  letter  of  the 
Scripture,  and  which  he  himself  also  expe- 
rienced for  the  instruction's  sake  :  tliey  are 
indeed  interesting,  and  comport  with  cir- 
cumstances that  are  at  this  day  coming  to 
light,  at  the  same  time  tliat  they  contrast, 
toto  ccelo,  with  metaphysical  philosophy. 
We  can  only  however  notify  to  the  reader, 
that  Swedenborg  has  given  their  theory  from 
the  experimental  or  real,  and  biblical  side, 
for  there  is  much  in  the  Bible  upon  the  sub- 
ject, when  it  is  looked  tor  with  a  scientific 
aim. 

305.  "  It  may  here  be  expedient  to  give 
Swedenborg's  dictum  on    the  Epistles,   upon 


which  the  doctrinals  of  Christendom  are  so 
commonly  founded. 

"  '  With  regard,'  says  ho,  '  to  the  writings  of 
Paul  and  the  other  apostles,  I  have  nf)t  given 
them  a  place  in  my  .Ircana  Ccftesiin,  because 
they  are  dogmatic  writiiicrs  merely,  and  not  writ- 
ten in  the  style  of  the  Word,  as  are  those  of  the 
prophets,  of  David,  of  the  Evangelists,  and  of  the 
Revelation  of  St.  John. 

"  '  The  style  of  the  Word  consists  throughout 
in  correspondences,  and  thence  effects  an  imme- 
diate communication  with  heaven;  but  the  style 
of  these  dogmatic  writings  is  quite  different, 
having,  indeed,  communication  with  heaven,  but 
only  mediately  or  indirectly. 

"  '  The  reason  why  the  apostles  wrote  in  this 
style,  was,  that  the  first  Christian  Church  was 
then  to  begin  through  them ;  consequently,  the 
same  style  as  is  used  in  the  Word  would  not  have 
been  proper  for  such  doctrinal  tenets,  which  re- 
quired plain  and  simple  language,  suited  to  the 
capacities  of  all  readers. 

"  '  Nevertheless,  the  writings  of  the  apostles 
are  very  good  books  for  the  church,  inasmuch  as 
they  insist  on  the  doctrine  of  charity,  and  of  faith 
from  charity,  as  strongly  as  the  Lord  Himself  has 
done  in  the  Gospels,  and  in  the  Revelation  of  St. 
John,  as  will  appear  evidently  to  any  one  who 
studies  these  writings  with  attention. 

"'In  the  ./Ipocahjpse  Revealed,  No.  i\7,  I  have 
proved  that  the  words  of  Paul,  in  Rom.  iii.  28,  are 
quite  misunderstood,  and  that  the  doctrine  of  jus- 
tification by  faith  alone,  which  at  present  consti- 
tutes the  theology  of  the  reformed  churches, 
is  built  on  an  entirely  false  foundation.' 

30G.  ''  We  notice  in  the  doctrine  of  Scrip- 
ture, as  throughout  the  author's  works,  a 
turning  of  the  tables  in  the  matter  of  evidence. 
Instead  of  commencing  inquiries  with  no  be- 
liefs, he  accepts  the  most  universal  creeds  as 
the  hypotheses  of  investigation,  and  puts  them 
to  the  fact.  To  commence  from  nothing,  is 
to  end  in  nothing,  as  the  present  biblical 
scholars  illustrate.  But  Swedenborg  takes 
the  divinity  and  holiness  of  the  Bible  as  his 
postulate,  and  then  looks  for  the  like  in  the 
text.  His  method,  to  say  the  least,  has  ended 
in  no  reductio  ad  absnrdum,  but  the  interpre- 
tation gained  has  confirmed  the  truth  of  the 
preliminaries.  No  writer  has  shown  so  sub- 
lime a  quality  in  the  Bible  as  Swedenborg, 
none  has  added  to  the  probability  of  its  divine 
origin  so  practical  and  scientific  a  demonstra- 
tion. If  wisdom  and  beauty  shown  in  nature, 
be  God's  evidence  there,  then  by  })arity  of 
reason,  wisdom  and  goodness  expounded  in 
Scripture  should  be  the  witness  of  his  Word 
in  the  latter  sphere.  The  theorem  of  plenary 
inspiration,  or  the  contrary,  can  only  be  set- 
tled by  this  procedure,  which  makes  one  pro- 
cess for  all  truths ;  but  never  by  what  are 
called  '  evidences  '  proceeding  from  void  hearts 
and  unbelieving  understandings.  If  nature 
even  were  investigated  by  the  latter,  it  would 
never  declare  its  author,  or  let  its  unhappy 
questioner  escape  from  the  labyrinth  of  its 
contradictions  and  interpolations. 


78 


LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


Faith,  Life,  and  Providence. 

307.  "  The  Doctrine  of  Faith  in  Sweden- 
bor<i;'s  writin<;s  occupies  a  part  of  ^reat  sim- 
plicity. Faith,  says  he,  is  an  inward  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  truth,  which  comes  to  those 
who  lead  good  lives  from  good  motives.  '  If 
ye  will  do  the  works  ye  shall  know  of  the 
doctrine.'      Faith    therefore    is    the    eye    of 

•  charity.  Spiritual  clearsightedness  is  its  emi- 
nent attribute.  It  is  not  the  organon  of  mys- 
teries, for  there  is  no  belief  in  what  we  do 
not  understand.  There  may  be  suspension 
of  the  judgment,  but  never  faith.  The  high- 
est angels  do  not  know  what  faith  is,  and  when 
they  hear  of  any  one  believing  what  he  does 
not  understand,  they  say,  '  this  person  is  out 
of  his  senses.'  With  them,  faith  is  only  truth. 
Divine  and  human  knowledges  are  under  the 
same  class ;  for  both  there  is  the  base  of 
scientific  proof;  but  with  this  caution,  that 
each  state  apprehends  only  its  .own  objects, 
and  that  practical  goodness  is  the  ground 
upon  which  religious  truth  can  be  properly  or 
profitably  received. 

308.  "  Tlie  Doctrine  of  Life  is  equally 
simple.  We  are  to  shun,  as  sins  against  God, 
whatever  is  forbidden  in  the  ten  Command- 
ments, and  to  do  the  duties  of  our  callings. 
The  shunning  of  evils  as  sins  is  the  first  ne- 
cessity ;  the  doing  good  is  possible  after  that. 
Charity  consists  in  this  course,  and  faith  fol- 

iows  it  by  divine  ordination.  A  life  of  this 
kind  is  the  only  contribution  that  each  man 
can  make  to  the  New  Jerusalem.  No  one 
however  can  do  good  which  is  really  such, 
from  self,  but  all  goodness  is  from  God. 

309.  "  For  the  rest,  our  sage  is  no  counsel- 
lor of  asceticism ;  he  admits  us  to  enjoy  the 
good  things  of  this  life,  in  preparation  for 
those  of  another;  he  advocates  no  self-immo- 
lating pietism,  but  '  a  renunciation  of  the 
world  during  a  life  in  the  world ; '  and  as 
sense  is  an  everlasting  verity,  he  teaches  the  ex- 
pansion of  the  senses,  under  the  spiritual  powers. 

310.  "In  1764,  Swedenborg  published  at 
Amsterdam  a  continuation  of  his  work  on  the 
divine  attributes,  under  the  title.  Angelic  Wis- 
dom concerning  the  Divine  Providence,  in 
which  he  identifies  Providence  with  the  Lord's 
government  of  mankind.  He  states  the  ends 
which  the  Divine  Providence  has  in  view, 
whereof  the  first  and  last  is  the  formation  of 
an  angelic  heaven  out  of  the  human  race. 
He  then  propounds  various  laws  of  the  Di- 
vine Providence  which  are  unknown  in  the 
•world,  and  occupies  a  considerable  part  of  this 
very  beautiful  Treatise,  with  setting  us  right 
upon  points  on  which  infidelity  founds  objec- 
tions, and  in  short,  with  vindicating  the  ways 
of  God  to  man.  He  insists  on  the  universali- 
ty of  Providence,  and  on  its  presence  with 
all  men  alike,  the  wicked  as  well  as  the  good, 
but  the  former  will  not  receive  its  blessings, 
and  their  freedom  of  choice  is  respected.  liell 
is  the  false  creation  which  they  make,  the 
Lord  sets  their  places  there,  and  ordains  theai 


for  their  greatest  good.  Upon  the  subject  of 
predestination,  Swedenborg  maintains  that  all 
are  predestined  to  heaven,  and  it  is  their  own 
doing  if  they  do  not  arrive  thither.  Momen- 
taneous  salvation  from  immediate  mercy  is 
impossible,  and  the  belief  in  it,  is  '  the  fiery 
flying  serjjent  of  the  church,'  which  raises 
sensual  evils  to  a  new  deadliness  of  sting,  and 
moreover  imputes  damnation  to  the  Lord. 

Spiritual  Diary. 

311.  "We  now  turn  aside  for  a  moment 
from  Swedenborg's  published  works,  to  his 
posthumous  Diary,  the  last  date  in  which  is 
the  3d  of  December,  17G4.  This  day  book 
he  had  begun  in  1747,  perhaps  after  finishing 
the  Adversaria  on  Genesis  and  Exodus,  the 
last  date  in  which  is  February  9th  in  the  lat- 
ter year.  We  must  attempt  to  convey  to  the 
reader  some  notion  of  this  extraordinary 
Manuscript,  which  extends  over  a  period  of 
seventeen  years.  We  have  termed  it  a  Day 
Book,  and  such  it  veritably  was  in  the  inten- 
tion of  the  bookmaker,  being  written  on  those 
English  'oblong  folios'  which  are  so  common 
in  our  counting  houses.  In  these  business- 
like volumes  thought  and  vision  are  duly  'en- 
tered '  with  the  greatest  regularity ;  in  the 
earlier  part  of  the  work  the  date  is  generally 
subjoined  to  the  paragraphs,  and  here  and 
there  parts  are  crossed  out,  having  been  faith- 
fully '  posted,'  and  '  delivered '  into  the  au- 
thor's published  books.  The  whole  is  in  more 
than  six  thousand  paragraphs,  of  which  the 
first  hundred  and  forty-eight  are  missing:  it 
makes  six  closely-printed  octavos,  and  consid- 
ering the  difficulties  of  the  original,  to  which 
we  can  bear  witness,  it  is  but  fair  to  mention 
the  name  of  Tafel,  its  editor.  Professor  of 
Philosophy  and  Librarian  of  Tiibingen,  as  an 
honorable  specimen  of  even  a  German  scholar. 

312.  "  Almost  every  reader  would  smile 
doubtfully  if  he  perused  a  page  or  two  of  this 
Diary.  He  would  meet  with  conversations 
with  Moses  and  Abraham,  Aristotle,  Cicero 
and  Cassar  Augustus,  Charles  the  XII.  of  Swe- 
den and  Frederic  of  Prussia,  the  author  of  the 
whole  Duty  of  Man,  and  other  of  the  deceased, 
and  as  the  belief  practically  runs,  the  annihi- 
lated worthies  and  notables  of  history.  He 
would  find  them  treated  as  living  men  and  real 
forces.  He  would  learn  of  strange  punish- 
ments and  new  criminalities ;  of  fathomless 
pools  of  evil ;  of  goodness  detected  in  those 
that  history  condemns,  and  of  the  mask  of  ex- 
cellence quite  fallen  away  from  some  of  her 
brightest  exemplars ;  of  Paul  aiwi  David  [in  a 
very  low  state  of  spiritual  life,]  and  Mahomet 
a  Christian  convert.  But  let  him  read  on, 
and  the  laugh  dies  before  the  supernaturalness 
of  the  unbending  context.  Moreover  amid 
the  narrative,  he  meets  with  thoughts  of  the 
newest  import ;  with  lovely  sentiments  fra- 
grant towards  God  and  man;  and  with  lessons 
pointing  life  and  the  world  towards  plain  goals 
oi'  blessedness.     It  will  be  no  doubtful  contest 


LIFE   AND    \YRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


79 


with  him  between  tLe  sanity  and  the  insanity 
of  the  author ;  strangeness  will  recede  by 
degrees,  overmastered  by  the  moral  element 
that  explains  the  appearances  into  truths ;  and 
whatever  the  verdict  be,  it  will  be  granted 
that  a  profound  meaning  lurks  in  even  the  oddest 
forms  of  this  spiritual  commonplace  book. 

313.  "A  great  part  of  it  dwells  upon  un- 
happy themes,  and  indeed  no  book  more  de- 
ranges one's  habits  of  thought  than  this  unre- 
served Diary.  Our  crotchet  of  the  abstract 
nobleness  of  spirits,  receives  there  a  rude  shock. 
Our  father's  souls  are  no  better  than  oui'- 
selves  ;  no  less  mean  and  no  less  bodily  ;  and 
their  occupations  are  often  more  unworthy 
than  our  own.  A  large  part  of  their  doings 
reads  like  police  reports.  Even  the  angels 
are  but  good  men  in  a  favoring  sphere :  we 
may  not  worship  them,  for  they  do  not  deserve 
it ;  at  best,  they  are  of  our  brethren,  the 
prophets.  It  is  very  matter  of  fact.  Death 
is  no  change  in  substantials.  The  same  prob- 
lems recur  after  it,  and  man  is  left  to  solve 
them.  Nothing  but  goodness  and  truth  are 
thriving.  There  is  no  I'cst  beyond  the  tomb, 
but  in  the  peace  of  God  which  was  rest  before 
it.  This  is  the  last  extension  of  ethics,  and 
while  it  deprives  the  grave  of  every  vulgar 
terror,  it  lends  it  the  terrors  of  this  wicked 
world,  which  itself  is  the  reign  and  empire  of 
the  dead.  Moreover  while  the  Diary  abol- 
ishes our  spiritual  presumptions,  it  justifies  to 
nearly  the  whole  extent  the  low  sentimental 
credence  on  ghostly  subjects,  as  well  as  the 
traditions  and  the  fears  of  simple  mankind. 
The  earthly  soul  cleaves  to  the  ground  and 
gravitates  earthwards,  dragging  the  chain  of 
the  impure  aft'ections  contracted  in  the  world ; 
spirits  haunt  their  old  remembered  places, 
attached  by  undying  ideas  ;  hatred,  revenge, 
pride  and  lust  persist  in  their  cancex'ous 
spreading,  and  wear  away  the  incurable  heart- 
strings ;  infidelity  denies  God  most  in  spirit 
and  the's^jiritual  world;  nay,  staked  on  death 
it  ignores  eternity  in  the  eternal  state  with 
gnashing  teeth  and  hideous  clinches  :  and  the 
proof  of  spirit  and  innnortal  life  is  farther  off" 
than  ever.  The  regime  of  the  workhouse, 
the  hospital,  and  the  madhouse  is  erected  into 
a  remorseless  universe,  self-fitted  with  steel 
fingers  and  awlul  chirurgery  ;  and  no  hope 
lies  either  in  sorrow  or  poverty,  but  only  in 
one  divine  religion,  which  hell  excludes  with 
all  its  might.  Human  nature  quails  before 
such  tremendous  moralities  ;  freedom  tries  to 
abjure  the  life  that  it  is,  and  calls  upon  the 
mountains  and  rocks  to  cover  and  to  crush  it. 
A  new  phase  appears  in  the  final  state ;  the 
memory  of  the  skies  is  lost ;  baseness  accepts 
its  lot,  and  falsehood  becomes  self-evident : 
wasting  ensuea  to  compressed  limb  and  facul- 
ty, and  the  evil  spirit  descends  to  his  mineral 
estate,  a  living  atom  of  the  second  death. 
Impossibility  is  the  stone  of  his  heart,  and 
ciookedueos  the  piirtncr  of  his  understanding. 


lie  is  still  associated  with  his  like  in  male  and 
female  company,  and  he  and  his,  in  the  charry 
light  of  hell,  which  is  the  very  falsity  of  evil, 
are  not  unhandsome  to  themselves.  Such  is 
the  illusive  varnish  which  in  mercy  drapes 
the  bareness  of  the  ugly  skeletons  of  devils 
and  satans. 

314.  "We  cannot  dismiss  the  Z)mry  with- 
out observing  how  true  Swedenborg  is  to  him- 
self in  a  record  whose  publication  he  did  not 
contemplate.  His  public  words  are  at  one 
with  his  secret  thoughts  ;  he  is  as  grave  in 
heart  as  in  deportment.  To  one  who  has 
perused  the  work,  the  question  of  sincerity 
nevermore  occurs ;  he  would  as  soon  moot 
the  sincerity  of  a  tree.  And  indeed  the  in- 
quiry after  sincerity,  in  the  ordinary  sense, 
goes  but  a  little  way  in  the  determination  of 
such  a  case. 

Apocalypse. 

315.  "Besides  the  Diary,  Swedenborg  for 
several  years  had  been  engaged  upon  an  exten- 
sive work  on  the  Apocalypse,  which  is  published 
among  his  posthuma,  but  which  he  did  not 
complete.  The  original  edition  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse Explained  occupies  four  large  4to  vol- 
umes. That  he  intended  to  produce  it  is  evi- 
dent from  the  clearly-written  manuscript  with 
occasional  directions  to  the  printer,  and  from 
the  first  volume  of  the  copy  being  marked  in 
the  titlepage  with  London,  1759;  which  ren- 
ders it  moreover  probable  that  he  had  begun 
the  work  after  finishing  the  Arcana  in  1756. 
However  this  may  be,  we  learn  that  on  one 
occasion  he  '  heard  a  voice  from  heaven,  say- 
ing, "  Enter  into  your  bed  chamber,  and  shut 
the  door,  and  apply  to  the  work  begun  on  the 
Apocalypse,  and  finish  it  within  two  years."  ' 
The  Apocalypse  Explained  is  one  of  the  finest 
of  his  works,  interpreting  that  book  of  the 
Testament  down  to  the  tenth  verse  of  the 
nineteenth  chapter,  and  pregnant,  if  we  may 
use  the  expression,  with  a  number  of  distinct 
treatises  on  important  subjects ;  but  it  has 
been  supposed  that  he  thought  it  too  volumi- 
nous and  elaborate.  Certain  it  is,  that  he 
abandoned  the  work,  and  set  himself  to  pro- 
duce an  exposition  in  a  smaller  compass, 
which  he  published  under  the  title  of  Apoc- 
alypse Revealed. 

Meeting  with  Dr.  Beyer. 

316.  "It  does  not  appear  whether  Swe- 
denborg i-evisited  Sweden  from  1762  to  1764: 
he  may  have  resided  in  Amsterdam  during 
the  whole  period,  or  he  may  have  paid  a  visit 
to  England;  but  it  is  probable  that  he  re- 
turned home  during  the  latter  year,  for  in  the 
first  half  of  the  next  year  he  was  again  in 
Sweden.  Soon,  however,  he  set  forth  upon 
new  travels,  and  in  1765  came  from  Stock- 
holm to  Gottenburg,  where,  during  a  week's 
stay,  while  waiting  for  a  vessel  to  England, 
he  accidcnUilly  met   Dr.  Beyer,  Professor  of 


80 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


Greek  and  Member  of  the  Consistorj  of  Got- 
tenburg,  who  having  lieard  that  he  was  mad, 
was  surprised  to  find  that  he  spoke  sensibly, 
without  discovering  any  marks  of  his  alleged 
infirmity.  He  invited  Swedenborg  to  dine 
with  him  the  day  following,  in  company  with 
Dr.  Rosen.  After  dinner,  Dr.  Beyer  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  hear  from  him  a  full  ac- 
count of  his  doctrines ;  upon  which  Sweden- 
borg, animated  by  the  request,  '  spoke  out  so 
clearly  and  wonderfully,'  that  both  the  doctors 
wei*e  astonished.  They  did  not  interrupt  him, 
but  when  he  had  finished,  Beyer  requested 
him  to  meet  him  the  next  day  at  M.  Wenn- 
gren's,  and  to  bring  with  him  a  paper  con- 
taining the  substance  of  his  discourse,  in  order 
that  he  might  consider  it  more  attentively. 
Swedenborg  complied,  kept  the  engagement, 
and  taking  the  paper  out  of  his  pocket  in  the 
presence  of  Beyer  and  Wenngren,  he  trem- 
bled and  appeared  much  affected,  the  teai-s 
flowing  down  his  cheeks ;  and  presenting  the 
paper  to  Dr.  Beyer,  he  said,  '  Sir,  from  this 
time  the  Lord  has  introduced  you  into  the 
society  of  angels,  and  you  are  now  surround- 
ed by  them.'  They  were  all  affected.  He 
then  took  his  leave,  and  the  next  day  em- 
barked for  England.  From  that  time  Dr. 
Beyer  became  a  student  of  his  doctrines,  and 
in  spite  of  persecution,  he  remained  stead- 
fast to  them  throughout  his  life,  and  busied 
himself  upon  an  elaborate  Index  to  Sweden- 
borg's  theological  writings,  which  was  published 
thirteen  years  after,  just  as  Dr.  Beyer  died. 

Apocalypse  Revealed. 

317.  "  Swedenborg  did  not  make  a  long 
stay  in  England,  but  after  a  few  weeks  or 
months  proceeded  to  Holland,  spending  the 
winter  of  1765-66  at  Amsterdam,  where  he 
published  the  Apocalypse  Revealed  in  the 
spring  of  the  latter  year.  This  work,  as  was 
his  wont,  he  gave  away  liberally  to  the  Uni- 
versities and  superior  clergy,  and  to  many 
eminent  persons,  in  England,  Holland,  Ger- 
many, France  and  Sweden. 

318.  "  Tlie  Apocalypse  Revealed  is  an  in- 
terpretation of  the  book  t)f  Revelation,  on 
principles  similar  to  those  made  use  of  in  the 
Arcana  Coelestia,  and  which  we  have  already 
mentioned.  The  spiritual  sense  alone  fur- 
nishes the  key  to  this  often  expounded  scrip- 
ture, and  those  who  were  ignorant  of  that 
sense,  could  not  unfold  its  true  meaning.  It 
does  not  foreshadow  outward  events  either  in 
the  church  or  the  world,  nor  the  progress  of 
the  Christian  church  from  its  beginning ;  but 
it  records  in  spiritual  symbols  the  end  of  that 
church,  and  the  establishment  of  its  successor  ; 
both  in  the  spiritual  world.  It  is  the  book  of 
the  Last  Judgment,  which  we  have  described 
above.  It  commences  as  'the  Revelation  of 
Jesus  Christ,'  signifying  that  those  who  ac- 
Knowledge  his  divinity  by  good  lives  from 
charity  and  faith,  are  the  witnesses  and  par- 


'  takers  of  this  Apocalypse.  It  appeals  to  all 
in  the  Christian  churcli,  under  the  sevenfold 
designation  of  the  churches  of  Asia,  whose 
variety  describes  the  entire  circuit  of  the  life 
and  faith  of  Christendom  in  the  two  worlds. 
It  then  describes  their  exploration,  by  the  in- 
flux of  divine  light  from  the  ancient  heavens : 
first,  the  exploration  of  the  reformed  church, 
and  lastly  that  of  the  catholic  :  the  doctrine 
of  justification  by  faith  being  typified  by  the 
dragon  ;  the  dominion  of  the  Romanist  church, 
by  the  great  harlot  sitting  upon  many  waters. 
It  proceeds  to  narrate  the  divine  judgment  on 
these  churches  :  also  in  the  nineteenth  chap- 
ter, the  glorification  that  ensued  in  heaven 
when  the  catholic  religion  was  removed  ;  and 
in  the  twentieth,  the  damnation  of  the  dragon. 
Then  proceeds,  chap,  xxi.,  xxii.,  the  descent 
from  heaven  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  with  a 
description  of  its  spiritual  glories. 

319.  "A  volume,  unless  it  were  a  reprint, 
would  not  give  an  analysis  of  this  book  on  the 
Apocalypse.  When  we  say  that  the  com- 
mentary takes  the  text  word  by  word,  and 
translates  it  into  spirit,  we  still  convey  but  a 
slender  idea  of  what  is  done.  Our  own  first 
impressions  on  reading  the  work  will  not  soon 
be  forgotten.  Following  the  writer  through 
the  long  breaths  and  flights  of  this  vast  em- 
pyrean, we  were  momently  in  anxious  fear 
that  to  sustain  a  context  of  such  was  impossi- 
ble. Each  fresh  chapter  seemed  like  a  space 
that  mortal  wing  must  not  attempt ;  and  yet 
the  fear  was  groundless,  for  our  guide  sailed 
onward  with  a  tranquil  motion  as  if  he  knew 
the  stars.  History  and  common  sense,  pant- 
ing and  gasping  science,  philosophy  in  its  bet- 
ter part,  above  all,  the  confidence  in  a  divine 
support  and  a  supernal  mission,  appeared  to 
be  covertly  and  unexpectedly  present,  to  an- 
nihilate difficulties,  and  pave  the  skyey  way 
of  this  humble  voyager.  And  when  we  had 
again  alighted  from  that  perusal  which  strained^ 
every  faculty  to  the  utmost,  it  was  as  though 
we  had  been  there  before,  so  entire  was  the 
impression  of  self-evidence  that  was  left  upon 
the  mind.  Genesis  and  the  Revelation  were 
closely  at  one  in  this  marvellous  Apocalypse, 
thenceforth  the  most  open  of  the  Bible  pages : 
the  two  ends  of  the  Scripture  called  to  each 
other ;  an  arch  of  divine  light  spanned  the 
river  of  the  Word,  and  the  original  Eden 
blossomed  anew  in  the  midst  of  the  street  of 
the  holy  city.  The  author  the  while  dis- 
claimed the  authorship,  for  '  what  man,'  says 
he,  '  can    draw    such    things   for  himself.'  "  — 

Wilkinson's  Biography,  pp.  132-151. 

320.  The  author  of  the  Memoir  before 
quoted,  says  also  of  this  work  :  —  ''It  con- 
tains the  exposition  of  the  spiritual  sense  of 
the  Book  of  Revelation,  —  that  sealed  Book, 
which  has  been  an  embarrassment  and  a  mar- 
vel to  the  church  in  all  ages,  and  which,  in- 
deed, on  account  of  its  obscurity  and  seeming 
incoherency,  was  at   one  time  in  danger  of 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


81 


being  excluded  from  the  listof  eanonical  books 
of  Scripture,  —  tliis  mysterious  Book  is  taken 
up  in  the  work  just  mentioned,  (entitled  the 
Apocahjpse  Revealed,)  and  examined  chapter 
by  chai)ter,  verse  by  verse,  word  by  word,  in 
the  same  mannej*  as  was  done  with  the  Books 
of  Genesis  and  Exodus,  in  the  ^Arcana  ;  '  and 
the  interior  meaning,  the  spiritual  sense  of  ev- 
ery part  set  forth  —  and  set  forth  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  present  a  clear,  connected,  and 
rational  meaning  throughout  the  whole  Book, 
from  the  first  chapter  to  the  last.  And  what 
is  especially  to  be  remarked,  —  the  spiritual 
sense  of  this  Book,  the  last  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, is  shown  to  be  founded  on  the  same  prin- 
ciples, and  discovered  by  the  same  rules  of  in- 
terpretation, as  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Books 
of  Genesis  and  P^xodus,  the  first  of  the  Old 
Testament  written,  as  they  wei-e,  by  other 
hands,  and  more  than  fifteen  hundred  years 
before  (a  strong  proof,  that  however  varied 
the  human  instruments,  there  was  One  Divine 
Author  of  the  whole).  Thus,  with  any  par- 
ticular word,  for  instance,  occurring  in  the 
Book  of  Genesis,  and  declared  to  have  a  cer- 
tain spiritual  signification  —  when  that  word 
occurs  in  the  Book  of  Revelation,  it  is  shown 
to  have  the  same  signification ;  and  this  holds 
true  in  all  cases.  And,  moreover,  while  all 
these  various  significations  taken  together, 
make  in  the  Book  of  Genesis,  a  complete 
spiritual  sense,  so  in  the  Book  of  Revelation 
they  make  their  own  complete  spiritual  sense. 
Now,  it  will  readily  be  seen,  that  such  a 
coincidence  would  be  altogether  unaccount- 
able, nay,  impossible,  unless  there  really  ex- 
isted such  a  spiritual  sense  in  the  Word  of 
God,  formed  there  by  the  Divine  Hand :  and 
«t  is  indeed,  this  uniform  spiritual  sense,  full 
of  high  and  heavenly  truth,  in  which,  in  great 
part,  consists  the  inspiration  of  the  holy  vol- 
ume :  it  is  this,  which  raises  it  infinitely  above 
all  other  works  of  history  or  of  morals,  above 
all  human  compositions  :  and  the  existence  of 
such  a  sense,  it  may  be  observed,  is  the  strong- 
est proof  of  the  Divine  character  of  those 
writings  which  we  call  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 
And  truly,  had  Swedenborg  done  only  this, 
he  would  have  deserved  the  gratitude  of  all 
who  seriously  revere  the  Word  of  God,  for 
thus  bringing  a  new  and  most  powerful  argu- 
ment from  internal  evidence,  in  favor  of  the 
inspiration  and  Divinity  of  the  Sacred  Vol- 
ume." —  Memoir,  S^c,  by  Rev.  T.  0.  Prescott. 

Travels,  Anecdotes,  &c. 
321.    "In    176(5,   simultaneously    with    the 
Apocalypse  Revealed,  Swedenborg  republished 
his  youthful  work  on  a  New  Method  of  fad- 
ing the  Longitudes.     This  method,  as  he  in- 
formed   the  Swedish  Archbishop,  Menander, 
*of  calculating  the   ephemerides  by  pairs  of 
stars,  several  persons  in  I'oreign  countries  w<'re 
then  employing,  who  had  experienced   great  { 
advantage  by  the  observations  made  acconl- j 
11 


ing  to  it  for  a  series  of  years.'  His  faculty 
of  remark,  it  appears,  was  still  awake  to  what^ 
ever  he  thought  might  be  useful  in  the  mun- 
dane sense.  It  is  not  improbable  that  he  was 
solicited  to  this  reprint. 

322.  "  After  the  loth  of  April  he  again 
visited  England  for  two  or  three  months, 
watching  the  disposition  of  our  bishops,  and 
any  favoring  events  in  the  theological  world. 

323.  "  Mr.  Springer,  the  Swedish  Consul  in 
London,  is  the  only  person  who  mentions  any 
particulars  of  this  visit.  He  and  Swedenborg 
had  been  good  friends  in  Sweden,  but  Spring- 
er was  surprised  at  our  author's  continued  in- 
timacy with  him,  '  as  he  was  not  a  man  of 
letters.'  This,  however,  was  perhaps  one 
ground  of  the  friendship.  Swedenborg  -ile- 
sired  Springer  to  procure  him  a  vessel  for 
Sweden  and  a  good  captain,  which  he  did. 
An  agreement  was  made  with  one  Dixon. 
Swedenborg's  effects  were  carried  on  board, 
and  as  his  lodgings  were  at  a  distance  from 
the  port  (probably  in  Cold  Bath  Fields),  he 
and  Springer  took  for  that  night  (Sept.  1, 
1766)  a  bed  at  Mr.  Bergstrom's  Hotel,  the 
King's  Arms,  in  Wellclose  Square.  Sweden- 
borg went  to  bed.  Springer  and  Bergstrom 
from  an  adjoining  room  heard  a  remarkable 
noise,  and  could  not  imagine  its  cause.  They 
peeped  through  a  door  with  a  little  window 
in  it,  that  looked  into  the  room  where  he  lay, 
and  they  saw  him  with  his  hands  raised  ae 
towards  heaven,  and  his  body  appearing  to 
tremble.  He  spoke  much  for  half  an  hour,  but 
they  could  not  understand  what  he  said,  ex- 
cept only  when  he  let  his  hands  fall  down, 
they  heard  him  ejaculate,  My  God.  He  then 
remained  quietly  in  bed.  They  went  into  the 
room,  and  asked  him  if  he  was  ill.  He  said, 
*  No,  but  he  had  had  a  long  discourse  with 
some  of  the  heavenly  friends,  and  was  in  a 
great  perspiration.'  He  got  up  and  changed 
his  shirt,  and  then  went  to  bed  again,  and 
slept  till  morning.  This  anecdote,  trivial  as 
it  may  appear,  portrays  in  a  measure  his 
physical  state  during  one  of  his  trances.  His 
natural  voice,  it  seems,  was  stirred  during  ix 
spiritual  conversation.  This  occasionally  oc- 
curs in  sleep,  where  a  lively  dream  will  call 
forth  sounds  and  movements  from  the  sleeper. 
The  trembling  of  the  body  is  noteworthy,  and 
is  often  witnessed  in  the  first  phases  of  ecstase 
and  catalepsy.  As  to  the  noise  that  w;w 
heard,  it  might  have  been  merely  Sweden- 
borg's voice  mufHed  by  distance,  or  rendered 
imperfect  by  his  state ;  or  it  might  have  pro- 
ceeded from  the  spirits  who  were  with  kim  ; 
for  spirits,  according  to  the  Seeress  of  Pre- 
vorst,  and  homelier  authorities,  can  make 
themselves  audible  more  readily  than  visible, 
particularly  if  they  are  of  a  heavy  and  worldly 
cast ;  in  which  case  they  can  even  move  heavy 
bodies.  These,  however,  that  Swedenborg 
was  talking  with,  were  heavenly  spirits. 

324.  "  In  the  morning  Captain  Dixon  camo 


82 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG- 


for  Swedenborg,  and  Springer  took  leave 
of  him,  and  wished  him  a  happy  voyage. 
Bergstrom  asked  }iim  how  much  coffee  he 
should  pack  for  him,  as  he  took  a  certain  por- 
tion of  it  daily.  Swedenhorg  said  that  no 
great  quantity  would  be  needed,  as  by  God's 
aid  they  would  enter  the  port  of  Stockholm 
at  2  o'clock  on  that  day  week.  It  happened 
exactly  as  he  foretold,  as  Dixon  upon  his  re- 
turn informed  Springer.  A  violent  gale  ac- 
celerated the  voyage,  and  the  wind  was  favor- 
able to  every  turn  of  the  vessel.  Dixon  told 
Ferelius  that  he  had  never  in  all  his  life  had 
so  prosperous  a  transit. 

325.  "  Swedenhorg  arrived  at  home  on  the 
8th  of  September,  and  for  some  time  resided 
in  the  Sudermalm,  the  southern  suburb  of 
Stockholm.  His  house  was  pleasantly  situ- 
ated, neat  and  convenient,  with  a  spacious 
garden,  and  other  appendages.  His  own 
room  or  study  was  small,  and  contained  n'oth- 
ing  elegant.  It  was  all  that  he  wanted,  but 
would  have  satisfied  few  other  men.  He  kept 
two  servants,  a  gardener  and  his  wife,  to  whom 
he  gave  the  produce  of  his  garden.  In  17G7, 
for  the  convenience  of  hij;  numerous  visitors, 
he  had  a  handsome  summer  house  erected, 
with  two  wings,  one  of  which  contained  his 
library.  He  afterwards  built  two  other  sum- 
mer houses,  one  of  them  after  the  model  of  a 
structure  that  he  had  admired  at  a  nobleman's 
seat  in  England.  The  otlier  was  squaie,  but 
could  be  turned  into  an  octagon  by  folding 
back  the  doors  across  the  corners.  To  add  to 
the  amusement  of  his  friends  and  their  cliil- 
dren,  he  had  a  labyrinth  constructed  in  a 
corner  of  his  garden,  and  a  secret  door,  which, 
on  being  opened,  discovered  another  door 
with  a  window  in  it.  This  appeared  to  open 
into  a  garden  beyond,  containing  a  shady 
green  arcade  with  a  bird  cage  hanging  under 
it ;  but  the  window  was  a  mirror,  and  present- 
ed only  a  reflection  of  the  objects  around. 
He  took  great  pleasure  in  his  garden  ;  it  was 
ornamented  after  the  Dutch  fasiiion,  and  cost 
him  a  considerable  sum  annually  to  keep  it 
up,  but  in  his  latter  years  he  suffered  it  to  go 
into  disorder. 

326.  "  Notwitlistanding  that  he  was  very 
accessible,  he  took  precaution  to  stand  on  a 
fair  footing  with  his  visitors.  During  inter- 
views he  always  had  one  of  his  domestics 
present  in  the  room,  and  insisted  upon  the 
conversation  being  carried  on  in  Swedish. 
Widows  went  to  him  to  inquire  about  the 
state  of  their  husbands  in  the  other  world  ; 
and  others,  who  looked  upon  him  as  a  sooth- 
sayer, besought  him  with  questions  about 
property  lost  or  stolen.  When  people  went 
to  him  for  such  purposes,  he  often  refused  to 
gratify  them,  and  earnestly  advised  them  to 
abandon  their  quest.  He  had  perhaps  learned 
prudence  from  experience,  especially  of  the 
fair  sex ;  for  lie  used  to  say  in  justification  of 
his  caution  :  '  Women  are  artful ;  they  might 
oretend  that  I  have  sought  a  near  acquaint- 


ance with  them  ;  and  besides,  it  is  well  known 
that  persons  turn  and  distort  what  they  do 
not  understand.' 

327.  "  The  following  anecdote  from  his  fe- 
male domestic  at  once  illustrates  what  we 
have  been  relating,  and  shows  the  candor  of 
the  man.  Bishop  Hallenius,  the  successor  ol 
Swedenborg's  father,  paying  a  visit  to  Swe 
denborg,  the  discourse  began  on  the  nature  of 
common  sermons.  Swedenborg  said  to  the 
bishop,  among  other  things :  '  You  insert 
things  that  are  false  in  yours;'  on  this,  the 
bishop  told  the  gardener,  who  was  j)resent,  to 
retire,  but  Swedenborg  commanded  him  to 
stay.  The  conversation  went  on,  and  both 
turned  over  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Bibles,  to 
show  the  texts  that  were  agreeable  to  their 
assertions  :  at  length  the  conversation  finished, 
by  some  observations  intended  as  reproaches 
to  the  bishop  on  his  avarice,  and  various  un- 
just actions;  'You  have  already  prepared 
yourself  a  place  in  hell,'  said  Swedenborg; 
'  but,'  he  added,  '  I  predict  that  you  will  some 
months  hence  be  attacked  with  a  grievous 
illness,  during  which  time  the  Lord  will  seek 
to  convert  you.  If  you  then  open  your  heart 
to  his  holy  inspirations,  your  conversion  will 
take  place.  AYhen  this  happens,  write  to  me 
for  my  theological  works,  and  I  will  send 
them  to  you.'  In  short,  after  some  months 
had  passed,  an  officer  of  the  province  and 
bishopric  of  Skara  came  to  pay  a  visit  to 
Swedenborg.  On  being  asked  how  the  Bishop 
Hallenius  was,  '  He  has  been  very  ill,'  rej)lied 
the  officer,  '  but  at  present  he  is  well  recov- 
ered, and  has  become  altogether  another  per- 
son, being  noAV  a  practiser  of  what  is  good,  full 
of  probity,  and  returns  sometimes  three  or 
fourfold  of  property,  for  what  he  had  before 
unjustly  taken  into  his  possession.'  From 
that  time  the  bishop  became  an  open  support- 
er of  Swedenborg's  doctrine. 

328.  "  The  most  harmless  men  are  not  on 
that  account  without  enemies,  particularly  if 
they  add  to  prudence  plain  and  honest  speak- 
ing, as  was  the  case  with  Swedenborg ;  for 
nothing  excites  some  persons  to  violence  more 
than  the  spectacle  of  that  self-collectedness 
and  self-respect  which  they  do  not  feel  in 
themselves.  Swedenborg  underwent  this  pen- 
alty of  his  character.  On  one  occasion  a 
young  man  went  to  his  house  with  the  inten- 
tion of  assassinating  him.  The  gardener's 
wife,  observing  something  extraordinary  in 
his  manner,  told  him  that  Swedenborg  was 
out,  but  he  would  not  believe  it,  and  rushed 
past  her  towards  the  garden.  Happily  a  nail 
in  the  lock  of  the  door  caught  his  cloak,  and 
in  his  attempt  to  disengage  himself,  his  naked 
sword  fell  from  under  the  cloak  out  of  his 
hands,  and  thus  detected,  he  became  embar- 
rassed, and  escaped  with  all  speed.  He  was 
afterwards,  the  story  says,  killed  in  a  duel. 
No  doubt,  however,  this  was  an  isolated  in- 
stance, the  result  of  some  frenzy  or  madness 
acting  upon  an  excitable  brain,  for  we  do  not 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENIJORG 


88 


find  that  this  person  knew  any  thing  of  Swe- 
denborg. 

329.  "  In  the  autumn  of  this  same  year  he 
was  visited  by  tiie  Rev.  Nicliohis  Collin,  a 
Swedish  clergyman,  who  has  left  a  })k'asing 
account  of  his  interview  with  Swedenborg, 
who  '  at  that  time,'  he  says,  '  was  a  great  ob- 
ject of  pui)lic  attention  in  the  capital,  and  his 
extraordinary  character  was  a  frequent  topic 
of  discussion.'  The  old  man  received  the 
youthful  student  very  kindly  (Collin  was  then 
but  twenty  years  of  age),  and  in  the  course 
of  a  three  hours'  conversation,  reiterated  the 
fact  of  his  spiritual  intercourse,  as  declared  in 
his  works.  Collin  requested  of  him  as  a  great 
favor,  to  procure  him  an  interview  with  his 
brother,  deceased  a  few  months  previously. 
Swedenborg  answered,  that  God,  for  wise  and 
good  pur[)Oses,  had  separated  the  world  of 
spirits  from  ours,  and  that  communication  was 
not  granted  except  for  cogent  reasons  ;  where- 
upon Collin  confessed  that  he  had  no  motives 
beyond  gratifying  brotherly  affection,  and  an 
ardent  wish  to  explore  scenes  so  sublime  and 
interesting.  Swedenborg  told  liira  tliat  '  his 
motives  were  good,  but  not  sufficient ;  that  if 
any  important  spiritual  or  temporal  concern 
had  been  involved,  he  would  have  solicited 
permission  from  those  angels  who  regulate 
such  matters.'  AVe  cite  the  latter  sentence  to 
show  what  noble  offices  are  assigned  to  Unite 
beings.  Indeed  an  instructive  chapter  might 
be  written  from  Swedenborg's  life  and  works, 
upon  the  new  functions  connected  more  or  less 
with  this  world,  as  of  attending  the  birth  of 
the  newly  dead  into  the  spiritual  state,  of  edu- 
cating departed  infants  and  simple  spirits,  of 
governing  sleep  and  infusing  dreams,  and  in- 
definite other  things  besides, —  which  consti- 
tute a  department  of  the  duties  of  the  liuman 
race  translated  into  the  sphere  of  spiritual  in- 
dustry. For  heaven  is  the  grand  workman  ; 
the  moments  of  the  eternal  sabbath  are  strokes 
of  deeds  ;  and  the  more  of  these  can  be  given 
to  be  done  by  men  and  angels,  the  more  is 
the  creation  real,  because  cooperating  with 
God."  —  Wilkinson's  Biograpliy,  pp.  151-157. 
330.  In  this  year,  we  find  the  following 
from  a  letter  written  to  Dr.  Oettinger :  — 

"  To  your  interrogation,  Whetlicr  there  is  occasion 
for  anil  *'n  ")  "'"'  ^  <^"'  **"'  ^y  '^'^  Lord,  to  do  ivhat 
I  do'}  i  answer,  that  at  tiiis  day  no  signs  or  mira- 
cles will  bo  given,  because  thoy  compol  only  an 
external  belief,  but  do  not  convince  the  internal. 
What  did  the  miracles  avail  in  Egypt,  or  among 
the  Jewish  nation,  who,  nevertheless,  crucified  the 
Lord  ?  So,  if  the  Lord  was  to  appear  now  in  the 
eky,  attended  with  angels  and  trumpets,  it  would 
have  no  other  effect  than  it  had  then.  (Luke  xvi. 
29-J31).  The  sign,  given  at  this  day,  will  be 
an  iUiistrafion,  and  thence  a  knowledge  and  recep- 
tion of  the  IruUis  of  the  .Yew  Church;  some  speak- 
ing illustratiun  of  certain  persons  may  likewise 
take  place  ;  tliis  works  more  etTectually  than  mira- 
cles.     Yd  one  token  may  perhaps  still  be  given. 

"  You  ask  me.  If  I  have  spoken  ivith  the  Jlpostles  ? 
To  which  I  reply,  I  have  spoken  one  whole  year 


with  Paul,  and  also  of  what  is  montioned  m  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  iii.  '-28.  I  have  spoxen 
three  times  with  John  ;  once  with  Moses  ;  and  I 
suppose  a  hundred  times  with  Luther,  who  owned 
to  mo  that,  contrary  to  the  warning  of  an  angel,  he 
had  received  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith 
alone,  merely  with  the  intent  that  he  might  make 
an  entire  separation  from  popery.  But  with  the 
angels  I  have  conversed  these  twenty-two  years 
past,  and  daily  continue  so  to  do :  with  tiioin  the 
Lord  has  given  me  association,  though  there  was 
no  occasion  to  mention  all  this  in  my  writings. 
Who  would  have  believed,  and  would  not  have 
said,  show  some  token  that  I  may  believe?  and 
this  every  one  would  have  said  who  did  not  sec 
the  like." —  Documents,  pp.  154,  155. 

331.  In  17G7,  our  author  was  still  in  Stock- 
holm, observing  with  care  the  effect  produced 
by  his  writings.  And  in  reply  to  a  question, 
''How  soon  the  Neiv  Clmrch  is  to  be  expect- 
ed?"  we  have  the  following  answer:  — 

"  The  Lord  is  preparing  at  this  time  a  new 
heaven  of  such  as  believe  in  Ilim,  and  acknowl- 
edge Him  to  be  the  true  God  of  heaven  and  earth, 
and  also  look  to  Him  in  their  lives,  which  is  to 
shun  evil  and  do  good  ;  because  from  that  heaven 
shall  the  New  Jerusalem,  mentioned  in  Rev.  xxi. 
2,  descend.  I  daily  see  spirits  and  angels,  from 
ten  to  twenty  thousand,  descending  and  ascending, 
who  are  set  in  order.  By  degrees  as  that  heaven 
is  formed,  the  New  Church  likewise  begins  and 
increases.  The  universities  in  Christendom  are 
now  first  instructed,  from  whence  will  come  min- 
isters ;  because  the  new  heaven  has  no  influence 
over  the  old  clergy,  who  conceive  themselves  to 
bo  too  well  skilled  in  the  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith  alone."  —  Documents,  p.  125. 

For,  as  he  observes  in  another  letter:  — 

"  All  confirmations,  in  things  pertaining  to  the- 
ology, are.  as  it  were,  glued  fast  in  the  brains,  and 
can  with  difiiculty  beremoved  ;  and  whilst  they 
remain,  genuine  truths  can  find  no  place.  Besides, 
the  new  heaven  of  Christians,  from  whence  the  JVew 
Jerusalem  from  the  Lord  will  descend,  (Rev.  xxi.  1, 
2,)  is  not  yet  perfectly  settled."  —  Letters  to  Dr. 
Beyer. 

Kant's  Inquiries. 

332.  "  It  was  in  this  year  that  Kant's  at- 
tention was  first  called  to  the  narrations  which 
were  rife  about  Swedenborg.  The  philoso- 
pher describes  his  previous  state  of  mind 
with  regard  to  supernatural  occurrences. 
He  had  made  himself  acquainted  with  a 
great  number  of  the  most  probable  stories, 
but  considered  it  wisest  to  incline  to  the 
negative  side,  'not  that  he  imagined  such 
things  to  be  impossible,'  but  because  the  in- 
stances are  in  general  not  well  proved.  This 
not  unreasonable  scepticism  he  brought  to 
Swedenborg's  cases.  He  had  received  the 
account  of  them  from  a  Danish  officer,  hi> 
former  pupil,  who  at  the  table  of  the  Austrian 
Ambassador,  Dietrichstein,  at  Copenhagen, 
with  several  other  guests,  read  a  letter  just 
received  by  the  host  from  Baron  de  Lutzow, 
the  Mecklenburg  Ambassador  at  Stockholm, 
in  which  he  said  that  he,  in  company  with 
the  Dutch  Ambassador,  was  present  in  the 
Queen's  palace  when  Swedenborg  gave  her  the 


84 


LITE  AND  WRITINGS  OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


message  from  her  dead  brother.  This  authen- 
tication surprised  Kant,  and  as  he  prettily 
says  :  '  Now  in  order  not  to  reject  blindfold  the 
prejudice  against  apparitions  and  visions  by  a 
new  prejudice,  I  found  it  desirable  to  inform 
myself  of  the  particulars  of  the  transaction.' 
How  few  of  the  matter-of-fact  people  'find  it 
desirable  to  inform  themselves  ' !  But  to  con- 
tinue, Kant  instituted  searching  inquiries, 
which  ended  in  corroborating  the  aifair  ;  and 
Professor  Schlegel  also  added  his  voice,  that 
it  could  by  no  means  be  doubted.  Kant's 
Danish  friend  being  about  to  leave  Copenha- 
gen, advised  Kant  to  open  a  correspondence 
with  Swedenborg  himself.  This  he  did,  and 
his  letter  was  delivered  by  an  English  mer- 
chant at  Stockholm.  Swedenborg  received  it 
politely,  and  promised  to  reply.  As  no  answer 
came,  Kant  commissioned  an  English  gentle- 
man then  at  Konigsberg,  and  who  was  going 
to  Stockholm,  to  make  particular  inquiries  re- 
specting Swedenborg's  alleged  '  miraculous 
gift.'  This  friend  stated  in  his  first  letter  to 
Kant,  that  the  most  respectable  people  in 
Stockholm  attested  the  account  of  the  transac- 
tion alluded  to.  He  himself,  however,  he  con- 
fessed, was  still  in  suspense.  His  succeeding 
letters  were  of  a  different  purport.  He  had 
not  only  spoken  with  Swedenborg,  but  had 
visited  him  at  his  house,  and  was  in  aston- 
ishment at  his  case.  Swedenborg,  he  said, 
was  a  reasonable,  polite  and  open-hearted 
man.     He  told    him    unreservedly  that    God 

.  had  accorded  to  him  the  gift  of  conversing 
with  departed  souls  at  pleasure.  He  was  re- 
minded of  Kant's  letter ;  he  said  that  he  was 
aware  that  he  had  received  it,  and  would 
already  have  answered  it,  but  that  he  should 
proceed  to  London  in  the  month  of  May  this 
year  (1768),  where  he  would  publish  a  book  in 
which  the  answer,  as  to  every  point,  might  be 
met  with.  There  is  somewhat  of  uncommon 
-  candor  in  Kant's  deportment  throughout  this 

-  inquiry,  the  more  so  as  the  transcendental 
system  that  he  excogitated  excludes  reality 
with  triple  bars  from  every  sphere,  and  so 
aggravates  what  the  philosophers  term  the 
'  subjective '  portion  of  man's  nature,  as  to 
make  all  objects  unattainable  in  their  true 
selves.  But  Kant  had  genius  sutficient  to  let 
him  out  occasionally  from  the  prison  of  his 
intellectual  reveries.  The  anecdote  is  due  to 
Kant  himself,  even  more  than  to  Swedenborg. 

Visit  from  Virgil.  Deceased  King. 
333.  "  It  is  perhaps  in  tliis  period  of  his 
life  that  we  may  place  an  interview  with  him 
recorded  by  Atterbom,  the  poet,  in  his  Swe- 
dish Seers  and  Bards.  '  A  single  anecdote,' 
bUys  Atterbom,  '  in  relation  to  his  spiritual  in- 
tercourse, we  cannot  refrain  from  introducing, 
especially  as  none  of  those  hitherto  known  so 
artlessly  delineates  his  peculiar  and  unre- 
gtrained  mode  of  living,  at  the  same  time, 
loth  in  the  natural  and  spiritual  world.     The 


occurrence  took  place  with  a  distinguished 
and  learned  Finlander  (Porthan),  who,  during 
the  whole  of  his  life,  believed  rather  too  liiilo 
than  too  much.  This  learned  man,  when  a 
young  graduate  from  the  university,  was  on 
his  travels,  and  came  to  Stockholm  where 
Swedenborg  was  living.  Far  from  being  a 
Swedenborgian,  he  on  the  contrary  regarded 
the  renowned  visionary  as  an  arch-enthusiast; 
still  he  thought  it  is  duty  to  visit  this  wonder- 
ful old  man,  not  merely  out  of  curiosity  to  see 
him,  but  also  from  a  cordial  esteem  for  one 
who  in  every  other  respect  was  a  light  of  the 
North,  and  a  pattern  of  moral  excellence. 
On  his  arrival  at  the  house  in  which  Sweden- 
borg resided,  he  was  introduced  into  a  parlor 
by  a  good-humored  old  domestic,  who  went 
into  an  inner  apartment  to  announce  the 
stranger,  and  immediately  returned  with  an 
apology  from  his  master,  as  being  at  that 
moment  hindered  by  another  visit,  but  which 
would  probably  not  be  of  long  duration  ;  on 
which  account  the  young  graduate  Avas  re- 
quested to  be  seated  for  a  few  minutes  —  and 
was  left  in  the  parlor  alone.  As  he  happened 
to  have  taken  his  seat  near  the  door  of  *^he 
inner  apartment,  he  could  not  avoid  hearing 
that  a  very  lively  conversation  was  carried  on, 
and  this  during  a  passing  up  and  down  the 
room  :  in  consequence  of  which  he  alternately 
perceived  the  sound  of  the  conversation  at  a 
distance,  and  then  again  immediately  near 
himself;  and  plainly,  so  that  every  word 
might  be  heard.  He  observed  that  the  con- 
versation was  conducted  in  Latin,  and  that  it 
was  respecting  the  antiquities  of  Rome  :  a  dis- 
covery, after  which,  being  himself  a  great 
Latinist,  and  very  conversant  on  the  subject 
of  those  antiquities,  he  could  not  possibly 
avoid  listening  with  the  most  intense  attention. 
But  he  was  somewhat  puzzled  when  he  heard 
throughout  only  one  voice  speaking,  between  - 
pauses  of  longer  or  shorter  duration ;  after 
which  the  voice  appeared  to  have  obtained  an 
answer,  and  to  have  found  in  the  answer  a 
motive  for  fresh  questions.  That  the  hearer 
of  the  persons  conversing  was  Swedenborg 
himself,  he  took  for  granted,  and  the  old  man 
was  observed  to  be  highly  pleased  with  his 
guest.  But  M'ho  the  latter  was,  he  could  not 
discover ;  but  only  that  the  conversation  was 
concerning  the  state  of  persons  and  things  in 
Rome  during  tiie  time  of  the  emperor  Augus- 
tus :  and  particulars  on  these  points  were 
elicited,  which  he  with  unavoidable  and  in- 
creasing interest  endeavored  to  lay  hold  of, 
since  they  were  altogether  new  to  him.  But 
as  he  became  more  and  more  absorbed  in  the 
subject  itself,  and  was  endeavoring  to  forget 
the  marvellous  in  the  treatment  of  it,  the  door 
was  opened  ;  and  Swedenborg,  who  was  rec- 
ognizable from  portraits  and  descriptions  of 
him,  came  out  into  the  parlor  with  a  counte- 
nance beaming  with  joy.  He  greeted  the 
stranger,  who  had  risen  from  his  seatj  with  a 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


85 


friendly  nod,  but  merely  in  passing  by  him  : 
for  his  chief  attention  was  fixed  upon  the  per- 
son who  was  invisible  to  thu  stranger,  and 
whom  he  conducted  with  bows  through  the 
apartment  and  out  at  the  opposite  door:  re- 
peating at  the  same  time,  and  in  the  most 
beautiful  and  fluent  Latin,  various  obligations, 
a'ld  begging  an  early  repetition  of  the  visit. 
Immediately  afterwards,  on  entering  again,  he 
went  straight  up  to  his  later  guest,  and  ad- 
dressed him  with  a  cordial  squeeze  of  the 
hand  :  "  AYell,  heartily  welcome,  learned  Sir  ! 
excuse  me  for  making  you  wait !  I  had,  as  you 
observed,  a  visitor."  The  traveller,  amazed 
and  embarrassed  :  "  Yes,  I  observed  it."  Swe- 
denborg :  *'  And  can  you  guess  whom  ?  "  "  Im- 
possible." "  Only  think,  my  dear  Sir  :  Virgil! 
And  do  you  know  :  he  is  a  fine  and  pleasant 
fellow.  I  have  always  had  a  good  opinion  of 
the  man,  and  he  deserves  it.  He  is  as  modest 
as  he  is  witty,  and  most  agreeably  entertain- 
ing." "I  also  have  always  imagined  him  to 
be  so."  "  Right !  and  he  is  always  like  him- 
self. It  may,  perhaps,  not  be  unknown  to 
you,  that  in  my  first  youth  I  occupied  myself 
much  with  Roman  literature,  and  even  wrote 
a  multitude  of  Carmina,  which  I  had  printed 
at  Skara ? "  "I  know  it,  and  all  judges  highly 
esteem  them."  "  I  am  glad  of  it ;  it  matters 
little  that  the  contents  were  res[)ecting  my 
first  love.  Many  years,  many  otlier  studies, 
occupations  and  thoughts,  lie  between  that 
period  and  the  present.  But  the  so  unex- 
pected visit  of  Virgil  awaked  up  a  crowd  of 
youthful  recollections ;  and  when  I  found  him 
so  pleasant,  so  communicative,  I  resolved  to 
avail  myself  of  the  occasion,  to  ask  him  of 
tilings  concerning  which  no  one  could  bet- 
ter give  information.  He  has  also  promised 
me  to  come  again  before  long.  .  .  .  But 
let  us  now  talk  of  something  else  !  It  is  so 
long  since  I  have  met  with  any  one  from  Fin- 
land ;  and  besides  a  young  Academician ! 
Come  in,  and  sit  down  with  me !  AVith  what 
can  I  serve  you  ?  But  first  give  me  an  ac- 
count of  every  thing  you  can,  both  old  and 
new."  And  afterwards, — thus  continues  the 
witness  and  deponent  of  this  scene  to  one  of 
his  intimate  friends,  from  whose  lips  we  re- 
ceived the  account,  —  afterwards,  during  the 
whole  period  of  my  intercourse  with  this  sin- 
gular old  man,  whom  I  subsequently  visited 
several  times,  I  did  not  perceive  the  least  that 
was  extraordinary,  excepting  only  his  amazing 
learning  in  all  the  branches  of  human  sci- 
ence and  investigation.  He  never  afterwards 
touched  upon  any  thing  supernatural  or  vision- 
ary. So  insane  as  he  appeared  to  me  at  first, 
I  nevertheless  separated  from  him  with  the 
greatest  gratitude,  both  for  his  highly  learned 
conversation,  and  his  constant  and  exceeding 
kindness  both  in  word  and  deed — and  above 
all,  with  the  greatest  admiration,  although 
mingled  with  regret,  that,  on  a  certain  point, 
a  screw  in  the  venerable  man  was  loose  or 
altogether  fallen  away.' 


334.  '•  Here  is  a  royal  gate  into  history,  for 
the  future  to  open.  If  we  want  the  biogra- 
phy of  Virgil,  let  Virgil  tell  it :  no  one  else 
can  satisfy  either  biograj)her  or  feader.  Vir-  ■ 
gil  and  his  memory  are  alive ;  for  God  is  not 
the  God  of  the  dead,  but  the  God  of  the  living. 
There  are  no  dead  in  the  vulgar  sense,  and 
there  is  no  oblivion.  There  is  want  of  spirit- 
ual sympathy  in  us,  which  kills  the  living,  and 
obliterates  their  memory.  The  ancient  men 
are  secret,  for  we  are  estranged  from  their 
love  line.  Antiquarianism  cannot  dig  them 
n[),  because  they  are  not  under  ground.  But 
likeness  of  mind  is  an  exorcism  that  they  can- 
not refuse,  and  which  properly  applied,  will 
refresh  their  oldest  memories,  and  make  them 
confidential.  The  highest  who  has  left  the 
earth,  has  its  dear  images  with  him,  albeit 
quiescent  for  the  most  part,  but  may  be  led 
down,  when  the  Lord  pleases,  by  the  stairs  of 
the  unforgettable  past,  and  visit  our  abodes. 
It  is  only  to  open  his  mind  world  wards,  and 
straight  he  can  commune  with  an  earthly  seer 
—  if  he  can  find  one.  The  love  we  bear  to 
human  story,  the  insatiable  curiosity  towards 
early  times,  the  very  madness  of  antiquarianism, 
demand  this  authentication,  which  it  is  plain, 
would  be  simjily  satisfying  and  nothing  more. 
It  is  then  extraordinary  that  it  is  not  common. 

335.  ''  The  exact  month  of  Swedenborg's 
next  foreign  travel  is  uncertain,  but  just  be- 
fore he  undertook  it,  his  friend  Robsahm  met 
him  in  his  carriage  riding  out  of  Stockholm, 
and  asked  him  how  he  could  venture  upon  so 
long  a  journey,  being  eighty  years  old  ?  and 
whether  they  would  ever  meet  again  ?  Have 
no  anxiety  on  that  subject,  said  he,  for  if  you 
live  we  shall  meet  again  here,  as  I  have  yet 
another  journey  like  this  before  me.  We 
also  have  it  recorded  that  his  repeated  voyages 
to  and  fro  had  become  a  matter  of  notoriety 
at  Elsinore,  where  he  frequently  visited  the 
Swedish  Consul,  M.  Rahling;  and  it  was 
during  the  transit  we  are  referring  to  that  he 
made  the  acquaintance  of  General  Tuxen,  at 
the  Consul's  table.  The  General  questioned 
him  upon  the  report  of  the  Queen  of  Sweden's 
affair,  and  received  an  account  of  it  from  his 
own  lips.  He  also  asked  him  how  a  man 
might  be  certain  whether  he  was  on  the  road 
to  salvation  or  not.  Swedenborg  told  him 
that  this  was  easy  ;  that  he  need  only  exam- 
ine himself  by  the  ten  commandments ;  as  for 
instance,  whether  he  loves  and  fears  God  ; 
whether  he  is  rejoiced  at  the  welfare  of  others, 
and  does  not  envy  them  ;  whether  he  puts 
aside  anger  and  revenge  for  injuries,  because 
vengeance  belongs  to  God :  and  so  on.  If  he 
can  answer  this  examination  in  the  affirmative, 
he  is  on  the  road  to  heaven  ;  if  his  heart  is 
the  other  way,  then  he  is  on  the  road  to  hell. 
This  led  Tuxen  to  think  of  himself,  as  well  as 
others,  and  he  asked  Swedenborg  whether  he 
had  seen  King  Frederic  V.  of  Denmark, 
deceased  in  1766,  adding  that  though  some 
human  frailty  attached  to  him,  yet  he    had 


86 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBOT^G. 


certain  hopes  that  he  was  happy.  Sweden- 
horg  said,  '  Yes,  I  have  seen  him,  and  he  is 
well  off,  and  not  only  he,  but  all  the  kings  of 
the  house  of  Oldenburg,  who  are  all  associated 
together.  Tliis  is  not  the  happy  case  with  our 
Swedish  kings.'  Swedenborg  then  told  him 
that  he  had  seen  no  one  so  splendidly  minis- 
tered to  in  the  world  of  spirits  as  the  Empress 
Elizabeth  of  Russia,  wlio  died  in  17G2.  As 
Tuxen  expressed  astonishment  at  this,  Swe- 
denborg continued :  '  I  can  also  tell  you  the 
reason,  which  few  would  surmise.  With  all 
her  faults  she  had  a  good  heart,  and  a  certain 
consideration  in  her  negligence.  This  induced 
her  to  put  off  signing  many  papers  that  were 
from  time  to  time  presented  to  her,  and  which 
at  last  so  accumulated,  that  she  could  not  ex- 
amine them,  but  was  obliged  to  sign  as  many 
as  possible  upon  the  representation  of  her 
ministers:  after  which  she  would  retire  to  her 
closet,  fall  on  her  knees,  and  beg  God's  for- 
giveness, if  she,  against  her  will,  had  signed 
any  thing  that  was  wrong.'  When  this  con- 
versation was  ended,  Swedenborg  went  on 
board  his  vessel,  leaving  a  firm  friend  and  fu- 
ture disciple  in  General  Tuxen. 

Conjugial  Love. 

336.  "  It  is  probable  that  Swedenborg  went 
from  Stockholm  to  London  in  the  middle  of 
the  year,  according  to  what  he  signified  to 
Kant's  friend.  However  on  November  8, 
17G8,  we  again  meet  him  at  Amsterdam, 
whither  he  had  gone  to  print  another  impor- 
tant work.  The  Delights  of  Wisdo7n  concern- 
ing Conjugial  Love,  and  the  Pleasures  of  In- 
sanity concerning  Scortatory  Love.  This 
book  he  published  with  his  name,  as  written 
by  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  a  Swede. 

337.  "  In  every  new  view  of  mankind,  and 
in  each  fresh  system  of  doctrines  whicli  pro- 
fesses to  apply  itself  to  the  wants  of  an  age, 
the  subject  of  marriage  can  hardly  fail  to 
have  an  important  place ;  in  many  systems, 
indeed,  it  furnishes  the  experimentum  cruets, 
and  at  once  decides  their  pretensions.  It  now 
devolves  upon  us  to  say  a  few  words  upon 
this  topic,  in  its  connection  with  Swedenborg's 
doctrines. 

338.  "  The  author  affirms,  upon  a  union 
of  experimental  with  rational  evidence,  that 
sex  is  a  permanent  fact  in  human  nature, — 
that  men  are  men,  and  women,  women,  in  the 
highest  heaven  as  here  upon  earth :  that  it  is 
the  soul  which  is  male  or  female,  and  that  sex 
is  thence  derived  into  the  mortal  body  and  the 
natural  world ;  therefore  that  the  difference 
of  sexes  is  brighter  and  more  exquisite  in 
proportion  as  the  person  is  high,  and  the 
sphere  is  pure.  The  distinction  not  only 
reaches  to  the  individual,  but  it  is  atomically 
minute  besides;  every  thought,  affection  and 
sense  of  a  male  is  male,  and  of  a  female  is 
feminine.  The  smallest  drop  of  intellect  or 
will  is  in'^onvertible    between    the   sexes ;  if 


man's,  it  can  never  become  woman's ;  or  vice 
versa.  Tiie  sexual  distinction  is  founded  upon 
the  two  radical  attributes  of  God,  —  upon  his 
divine  love,  and  his  divine  wisdom  ;  wiiereof 
the  former  is  feminine,  and  the  latter  mascu- 
line. The  union  of  these  in  Him  is  the  di- 
vine marriage;  and  the  creation  proceeds  dis- 
tinctly from  them,  and  images,  or  aspires  to,  a 
marriage  in  every  part.  The  lightning  fiats 
twine  and  kiss  ere  ever  they  separate.  The 
world  would  be,  and  the  church  is,  an  ever- 
lasting wedlock.  Therefore  there  are  mar- 
riages in  heaven,  and  heaven  itself  is  a  mar- 
riage. The  text  that  '  in  heaven  they  neither 
marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage,'  is  to  be 
understood  in  a  spiritual  sense.  It  signifies 
that  the  marriage  of  tiie  soul  with  its  Lord, 
or  what  is  the  same  thing,  the  entrance  of 
man  into  the  church,  which  is  the  bride  of  the 
Lamb,  must  be  effected  in  this  world,  or  it 
cannot  have  place  afterwards.  It  also  signi- 
fies, that  angels,  whether  men  or  women, 
already  have  the  marriage  principle  in  them 
as  a  gi'ound  of  their  angelship,  or  they  could 
not  acquire  it  after  death  :  hence  they  are  vir- 
tually married,  and  do  not  marry,  nor  are 
given  in  marriage.  It  is  as  though  it  had 
been  said,  tliat  no  one  goes  to  heaven,  but 
those  who  already  are  in  heaven ;  or  have 
heaven  in  them,  and  are  heaven.  But  this 
Sci'iplure  by  no  means  excludes  the  blessed 
from  that  conjugial  union  which  is  their  sum- 
mary bliss,  and  which  is  the  foregone  conclu- 
sion of  their  admission  to  eternal  life.  The 
text,  however,  does  exclude  sensual  and  nat- 
ural views  of  marriage,  and  so  is  suitable  in 
its  form  to  the  Jewish  mind  and  the  corporeal 
nature,  which  otherwise  would  have  conceived 
only  carnally  of  a  celestial  bond. 

339.  "  We  must  guard,  however,  against 
supposing  that  the  spiritual  is  not  real  and 
bodily ;  lor  every  thing  inward  has  its  last 
resort  in  substantive  organization.  The  bodies 
of  angels  are  as  ours  in  every  part,  but  more 
expressive,  plastic,  and  perfect.  Their  con- 
jugial union,  which  is  true  chastity  and  play- 
ful innocence,  is  bodily  like  our  own ;  nay, 
far  more  intimate :  its  delights,  immeasurably 
more  blessed  and  perceptible  than  on  earth, 
commence  in  the  spirit,  and  are  of  the  spirit 
even  in  the  body  :  its  powers,  springing  from 
a  divine  fountain,  are  marred  by  no  languor, 
but  spire  in  an  unconsuming  fiame  of  peren- 
nial virility.  This  world,  however,  and  not 
the  other,  is  the  theatre  of  prolification ;  the 
fixed  soil  of  nature  alone  produces  new  be- 
ings ;  whence  angelic  marriages  do  not  engen- 
der natural  but  spiritual  births,  which  are  the 
various  endowments  of  love  and  wisdom ; 
whei-efore,  by  this  offspring  or  i?i-spring,  the 
partners  breed  in  themselves  human  fulness, 
which  consists  in  desiring  to  grow  wise  on  the 
man's  part,  and  in  loving  whatever  belongs  to 
wisdom  on  the  wife's.  Thus  conjugial  love  is 
a  means  of  their  eternal  progression,  by  which 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF    EMANUEL    SWEDKNBORG. 


87 


tliey  become  yoanger  and  younger,  more  and 
more  deeply  the  sons  and  daugliters  of  the 
Almighty,  and  are  born  again  from  state  to 
state  as  happier  children  in  the  cycle  of  wed- 
ded satisfactions. 

340.  "  To  conjugial  love  our  author  assigns 
the  highest  position  in  the  soul:  in  its  descent 
it  is  the  gate  by  which  the  human  race  enters 
into  exist<^nce ;  in  its  ascent  and  upper  faculty 
it  is  the  door  through  which  the  Lord  enters 
into  the  mind.  It  is  the  appointed  source  of 
all  creatures,  from  which  beneath  springs  gen- 
eration, and  regeneration  comes  through  it 
from  above.  The  purit}'  of  the  source  deter- 
mines the  world's  condition  at  any  given  period, 
influencing  posterities  organically,  and  the 
mind  and  will  in  their  finest  spiings.  Nay, 
upon  this  depends  the  spiritual  world  itself; 
for  earthly  marriage  is  the  seminary  of  heaven, 
as  adultery  is  the  seminary  of  hell.  Children 
born  of  parents  imbued  with  truly  conjugial 
love,  derive  from  those  parents  the  conjugial 
principle  of  goodness  and  truth,  which  gives 
them  an  inclination  and  faculty,  if  sons,  to 
perceive  whatever  appertains  to  wisdom,  and  if 
daughters,  to  love  the  things  that  wisdom  teaches. 

341.  "It  is  plain  that  of  an  affection  so  ex- 
alted there  are  few  patterns  to  be  found  on 
earth,  and  that  even  where  it  dwells,  it  may 
not  be  manifest ;  and  for  this  reason  our  au- 
thor was  obliged  to  describe  it  from  experi- 
ence in  heaven,  where  it  reigns  in  open  day 
as  a  fundamental  love.  Fact  alone  supplies 
description,  and  the  facts  of  conjugial  union 
were  not  given  on  this  globe  in  that  age ;  it 
was  then  needful  to  explore  the  heavens,  in 
which  that  ancient  love  is  stored.  For  this 
purpose,  as  the  ages  are  differenced  by  this 
very  affection,  he  prayed  to  the  Lord  to  be 
allowed  to  visit  them,  and  travelled  in  spirit 
with  an  angel  guide  to  the  golden,  silver,  copper, 
iron,  and  still  later  periods  ;  that  is  to  say,  to 
the  men  and  women  wlio  are  still  in  those 
states.  And  every  where  he  learned  from  the 
best  and  the  eldest  the  tale  of  their  faithful 
loves ;  or,  as  in  the  lower  ages,  observed  that 
A,iie  decadence  of  their  state  was  in  propor- 
tion to  their  want  of  fealty  to  the  primeval 
bond.  He  learned  that  the  marriage  of  one 
man  with  one  wife  is  the  law  of  heavenly 
union,  corresponding  to  the  unity  of  God,  to 
the  singleheartedness  of  man,  to  the  marriage 
of  the  good  with  the  true,  and  of  the  Lord 
with  the  church.  Polygamy,  however,  and 
varying  unions,  were  the  sign  and  the  cause 
of  a  broken  religion,  and  the  avenues  of  sen- 
suality towards  hell.  He  brought  back  to  this 
earth  the  documents  of  the  other  life  on  this 
point,  the  Reports  of  the  great  epochs,  and 
these  are  given  in  his  memorable  relations, 
a  series  of  narratives  between  the  ethical  chap- 
ters, which  complete  by  experience  the  field 
which  is  given  through  doctrine  in  the  latter. 

342.  "  Never    was    monogamy    so    rescued 
from  the  baser  justifications  of  worldly  pru- 


dence, and  placed  so  merely  on  the  pedestal 
of  religion  and  divine  necessity,  as  in  Swe- 
denborg's  system :  with  him  it  is  the  ideal  of 
union,  and  every  thing  in  the  sexual  commerce 
is  tried  and  judged  l)y  its  tendency  or  approxi- 
mation to  indissohiljle  miuriage.  Well  may 
the  state  be  guarded,  which  is  to  be  eternal  : 
well  may  the  force  be  subject  to  heavenly 
rules,  whose  effects  extend  through  all  gen- 
erations in  the  lines  of  time,  and  upward 
through  the  hierarchies  of  that  past,  which  is 
but  the  depth  and  height  of  the  present. 

343.  "  Sucii,  at  h^ast,  is  the  consequence  of 
the  creed,  that  sexual  distinctions  are  eternal, 
and  monogamy  their  divine  end  :  it  evident- 
ly confers  the  heart  of  spirituality  upon  the 
marriage  tie,  and  tends  to  maintain  it  for  both 
divine  and  human  reasons.  Nor  are  the  ce- 
lestial reports  devoid  of  interest  in  the  mat- 
ter ;  for  were  it  not  for  them,  the  sanctity  of 
marriage  would  fail  of  present  experience, 
and  come  in  time  into  the  hands  of  the  philos- 
ophers who  kee[)  no  account  of  their  receipts. 

[344.  In  the  latter  part  of  this  work,  and  sepa- 
rate from  it,  is  a  short  treatise  on  what  might  be 
called,  "The  Infernal  Pleasures  of  Insanity,  con- 
cerning Scortatory  Love  :  "  for  none  but  infernal 
spirits,  and  those  whoso  minds  are  under  their  in- 
fluence, can  possibly  take  delight  in  the  grossest 
perversions  of  all  that  is  good  and  true.  But  let  it 
never  be  forgotten,  that  what  Swedenborg  says  on 
these  unpleasant  subjects,  is  by  no  means  designed 
as  doctrinals  for  the  New  Clnirch  ;  and  in  reading 
this  essay,  tlie  important  distinctions  must  be  con- 
stantly kept  up,  between  the  phrases  "  it  is  rigM,''^ 
{fas  est,)  and  it  is  allowed  or  permitted,  [bicet ;)  the 
former  having  reference  to  the  laws  of  Divine  Order, 
and  the  latter,  to  those  of  Divine  Permission,  to 
prevent  greater  evils. 

345.  In  this  tract  the  author  has  given  a  virtual 
commentary  on  the  Divine  Command  —  "  Thou 
shalt  not  commit  adultery."  "  His  object  is  to  do 
what  no  Protestant  theologian  has  ever  done,  to 
lay  open  from  its  inmost  grounds  the  entire  morale 
of  the  seventh  commandment.  In  accomplishing 
this  object  he  has,  with  a  masterly  power  of  analy- 
sis, discriminated  between  the  different  degrees  of 
guilt  which  attach  to  the  greater  or  less  departure 
from  the  strict  rules  of  chastity.  '  The  head  and 
front  of  bis  offending  hath  this  extent,  no  more.' 
Viewed  in  the  light  of  Criminal  Jurisprudence,  it 
bears  the  same  relation  to  the  command  '  Thou 
shalt  not  commit  adultery,'  as  the  statute  law  on 
the  different  degrees  of  manslaughter  does  to  the 
command  '  Thou  shalt  not  kill.'  The  statute  laws 
wisely  discriminate  between  murder  and  man- 
slaughter in  the  first,  second  and  third  degrees, 
awarding  a  different  degree  of  penalty  to  each. 
But  who,  for  that  reason,  would  think  of  charging 
the  laws  with  'laxity  of  morals,'  or  witli  encour- 
aging murdiir  ? 

34().  "  Yet  the  charge  of  encouraging  vice  has 
as  little  foundation  in  truth  when  applied  to  Swe- 
denborg as  it  would  have  if  applied  to  the  laws. 
He  discriminates  the  sins  under  this  head  into 
eight  degrees,  and  teaches  that  the  greater  the 
departure  from  tlie  right,  the  greater  the  sin  and 
consequent  penalty,  and  of  course,  the  slighter  tho 
I  departure  from  strict  rectitude,  the  less  grievous 
I  the  sin  and  consequent  penalty.     He  shows  how. 


88 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


when  a  man's  hoart  appears  to  be  fully  set  in  him 
to  do  evil  in  this  respect,  he  may  be  restrained 
from  plunging  into  still  greater  evils  than  he  is 
already  in  the  practice  of,  and  how  he  may  be  led 
into  a  state  of  comparatively  less  evil,  and  finally 
back  into  the  paths  of  true  virtue.  In  all  this  there 
is  no  intimation  that  any  such  practices  are  any 
thing  else  than  grievous  sins,  which  are  to  be  even 
more  strenuously  striven  against  than  other  sins  : 
which  is  a  reason  for  his  being  more  minute.  His 
constant  language  in  regard  to  them  is,  that  they 
are  '  vile,'  '  detestable  to  christians,'  and  '  lead  to 
hell.' "]  —  JV.  Church  Repository,  vol.  i.  pp.  G21, 622.* 

347.  "  We  cannot  quit  the  Conjuffial  Love 
without  noticing  to  the  reader  the  author's 
penetration  upon  a  subject  where  a  studious 
old  bachelor  might  be  expected  to  have  no 
experience.  It  is  an  instance  of  the  syni- 
patliy  of  genius,  which  can  place  itself  in  the 
position  of  its  object,  and  look  outward  from 
the  hearts  of  alien  things.  Thus  it  was  that 
Swedenborg  analyzed  the  male  and  the  female 
soul,  and  their  faculties  of  conjunctivity ;  thus 
that  he  dived  into  the  recesses  of  wedded  life, 
and-  laid  down  a  science  and  a  series  of  its 
agreements  and  disagreements ;  that  he  ex- 
amined its  love,  its  friendship,  and  its  favor, 
at  the  different  periods  of  life  ;  that  he  de- 
scribed to  the  life,  but  in  formal  propositions, 
the  jealousies  of  the  state,  '  its  burning  fire 
against  those  that  infest  wedded  love,  and  its 
horrid  fear  for  the  loss  of  that  love  ; '  and 
finally  thus  that  he  depicted  the  love  of  chil- 
dren, the  spiritual  offspring  of  conjugial  love, 
in  its  successive  derivations ;  and  childless 
himself,  appreciated  the  circulation  of  inno- 
cence and  peace,  that  the  hearts  of  the  young 
establish  in  the  home.  Much,  however,  that 
he  has  said  belongs  to  his  peculiar  seership  : 
much  of  the  psychology  is  of  moi'e  than  earth- 
ly fineness  ;  the  distinctions  are  those  of  spir- 
itual light,  and  the  delicacy  of  the  affections 
is  that  of  spiritual  heat ;  which  is  not  sur- 
prising, for  the  wives  of  heaven  had  been 
communicative  to  our  author."  —  Wilkinson's 
Biography,  pp.  158-171. 

348.  For  a  full  representation  of  the  sub- 
ject of  Conjugial  Love,  as  indeed  all  other 
spiritual  and  theological  subjects  which  the 
author  has  treated  of,  the  jeader  is  referred 
to  the  "  Compendium"  of  his  writings.  And 
we  may  say  here,  once  for  all,  that  as  this  Sum- 
mary of  his  Life  is  designed  both  for  a  Prefix 
to  tliat  work,  and  also  to  be  published  sepa- 
rately, it  may  account  both  for  the  brevity 
of  this  analysis  of  his  writings,  and  for  what 
of  unnecessary  fulness  also  there  may  appear 
in  some  of  the  notices  of  his  theological  works. 
Also,  for  some  repetition  of  occurrences  which 
are  inserted  both  in  the  Life  and  in  the  Com- 
pendium. The  object  here  is  a  double  one 
—  to  serve  as  a  fitting  Prefix  to  the  Compen- 
dium, and  to  be  published  separately  also. 


*  On  the  siiliject  (>( Marriage  and  its  opiiosiles,  see  Nuble's  Ap- 
peal, Sec.  6,  Part  4,  N.  (;.  Reimsitnry,  Vol.  I,  pp.  (>21-2,  and  A 
Layman's  Reply  to  Dr.  Pond,  Ohap.  x.  p.  154.  These  monient- 
nus  questions  must  be  understood. 


Christ's  Power  over  all  Flesh. 

349.  In  this  year,  (17G8)  we  have  the  fol- 
lowing, concerning  the  Lord's  power,  and  the 
bodies  of  angels,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Oettinger. 

"  You  suggest  a  doubt  in  respect  to  ChrisVs 
having  power  given  Him  over  all  flesh,  and  yet  the 
angtls  and  heavenly  beitiffs  [Jinfreli  et  Ca-lites)  have 
not  flesh,  hut  lucid  bodies.  To  this  be  pleased 
to  receive  kindly  the  following  reply  :  That  by  all 
flesh,  there  spoken  of,  is  meant  every  niaii,  where- 
fore in  the  Word  mention  is  sometimes  made  of 
all  flesh,  which  is  to  denote  every  man.  As  to 
what  concerns  the  bodies  of  the  angels,  they  do 
not  appear  lucid,  but,  as  it  were,  fleshy,  for  they 
are  substantial  and  not  material,  and  things  sub- 
stantial are  not  translucent  before  the  angels. 
Every  material  thing,  or  substance,  is  originally 
derived  from  what  is  substantia],  and  every  man 
Cometh  into  this  substantiality  when  he  puts  of!^ 
by  death,  the  material  films  or  coverings,  which  is 
the  reason  why  man  afler  death  is  a  man,  but 
purer  than  befx)re,  comparatively  as  what  is  sub- 
stantial is  purer  than  what  is  material.  That  the 
Lord  has  power,  not  only  over  all  men,  but  also 
over  all  angels,  is  evident  from  His  own  words  in 
Matthew :  '  Jill  power  is  given  to  me  in  heaven,  and 
in  earth,^  (xxviii.  18)."  —  Documents,  pp.  152,  153. 

Doctrines    of   the    New   Church,  and   Com- 
mencement of  Persecution. 

350.  "  Swedenborg  remained  in  Amster- 
dam during  the  winter  of  1768-69,  and  early 
in  the  spring  of  the  latter  year  published  his 
Brief  Exposition  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Nevr 
Church,  'in  which  work,'  as  he  says,  'are 
fully  shown  the  errors  of  the  existing  doc- 
trines of  justification  by  faith  alone,  and  of  the 
imputation  of  the  righteousness  or  merits  of 
Jesus  Christ,'  which  doctrines,  he  expected, 
might  probably  be  extirpated  by  this  book. 
He  circulated  it  freely  throughout  Holland 
and  Germany ;  but,  on  second  thoughts,  sent 
only  one  copy  to  Sweden,  to  Dr.  Beyer,  re- 
questing him  to  keep  it  to  himself.  For 
'  true  divinity  in  Sweden  was  in  a  wintry- 
state  ;  and  in  general,  towards  the  Nortli 
Pole  there  is  a  greater  length  of  spiritual 
night  than  in  the  southern  parts  ;  and  those 
who  stand  in  that  darkness  may  be  supposed 
to  kick  and  stumble  more  than  others  against 
every  thing  in  the  New  Church  which  is  the 
produce  of  an  unprejudiced  reason  and  under- 
standing ;  yet  we  are  to  admit  some  excep- 
tions to  this  observation  in  the  ecclesiastical 
order.' 

351.  "  Swedenborg's  anticipations  with  re- 
gard to  his  native  country  were  not  falsihecl 
by  the  event,  for  already  on  the  22d  of  March^ 
1769,  Dr.  Ekebom,  dean  of  the  theological 
faculty  of  Gottenburg,  had  delivered  to  the 
Consistory  there  a  deposition  of  objections 
against  Swedenborg's  theological  writings,, 
laden  with  untruth,  and  full  of  personal  re- 
proaches. The  dean  branded  his  doctrine 
'  as  in  the  highest  degree  heretical,  and  ori 
points  the    most   tender   to   every    Christiany 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    EMANUEL    SWEDENBOIIG. 


89 


Socinian ; '  yot  stated  further,  that  he  did 
not  know  Assessor  vSwedenborj^'s  rehgious 
system,  and  should  take  no  pains  to  come  at 
the  knowledge  of  it.'  As  for  Swedenborg's 
chief  works,  he  '  did  not  possess  them,  and 
had  neither  read  nor  seen  them.'  '  Is  not 
this,'  says  Swedenborg  in  reply,  '  to  be  blind 
in  the  forehead,  and  to  have  eyes  behind, 
and  even  those  covered  with  a  film  ?  To 
see  and  decide  upon  writings  in  such  a  man- 
ner, can  any  secular  or  ecclesiastical  judge 
legard  otherwise  than  as  criminal?'  For 
the  rest  our  autlior's  reply  consisted  in  a  cita- 
tion of  some  of  the  leading  doctrines  in  his 
works,  those  particularly  on  the  divine  trinity, 
the  holiness  of  Scripture,  the  unity  of  charity 
and  faith,  and  the  direction  of  faith  towards 
one  person,  namely,  our  Savior  Jesus  Christ; 
and  he  denied  that  his  doctrine  was  heretical 
according  to  judgments  pronounced  by  the 
chief  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  Sweden.  '  Re- 
specting the  other  point,'  says  our  author, 
'  namely,  the  charging  those  doctrines  with 
Socinianism,  the  same  is  a  horrid  blasphemy 
and  untruth ;  forasmuch  as  Socinianism  signifies 
a  negation  of  the  divinity  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  when,  in  fact,  His  divinity,  in  this 
doctrine  of  the  New  Church  is  'principally 
confirmed  and  proved,  and  that  the  Savior 
has  so  fully  completed  the  reconciliation  and 
redem^Jtion  of  man,  that  without  his  coming 
no  man  could  have  been  saved,  see  Apoc.  Rev. 
67,  and  in  many  other  places;  in  consequence 
whereof,  I  consider  the  word  Socinian  to  be  a 
scoffing  and  a  diabolical  reviling.  This,  with 
the  rest  of  the  Doctor's  "  Reflections,"  may  be 
considered  in  the  same  sense  as  "  the  Hood 
which  the  dragon  cast  out  of  his  mouth  after 
the  woman,  that  he  might  cause  her  to  be 
swallowed  up  by  the  flood,  during  the  time 
that  she  was  yet  in  the  wilderness"  (Apoc. 
xii.  1.5).  And  it  may  come  to  pass  that  the 
same  which  is  mentioned  in  verse  17,  may 
likewise  take  place :  ''  And  the  dragon  was 
wroth  with  the  woman,  and  went  to  make  war 
with  the  remnant  of  her  seed,  who  kept  the 
commandments  of  God,  and  have  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus  Christ."  '  The  tenor  of  Scrip- 
ture, the  Apostolic  Creed,  and  whatever  was 
not  self-contradictory  in  the  orthodoxy  of  the 
churches,  he  claimed  to  have  upon  his  own 
side.  He  requested  of  Dr.  Beyer  that  his 
reply  might  be  communicated  to  the  bishop 
and  the  Consistory,  and  intended  at'lerwaids 
to  publish  both  sides,  and  j)ossibly  to  found  an 
action  ai  law  upon  the  proceedings,  unless  the 
dean  should  retract  his  scandal. 

352.  "At  the  end  of  May  or  tlie  beginning 
of  June,  Swedenborg  left  Amsterdam,  en  route 
for  Paris,  '  with  a  design,'  as  he  said,  '  wliich 
beforehand  must  not  be  made  |)ublic.'  It  ap- 
oears  from  tiiis  that  he  anticipated  some  diffi- 
culty with  regard  to  the  object  of  his  mission. 
This  was  no  other  than  the  publication  of  an- 
other little  work,  viz.,  The  Intercourse  between 
12 


the  Soul  and  the  Body,  which  he  designed 
to  give  to  the  world  in  the  Frencii  capi- 
tal. He  had  spoken  well  in  his  theological 
works  of  '  the  noble  French  nation,'  had 
taken  care  to  communicate  his  works  to  public 
bodies  and  select  individuals  in  France,  wiiere 
also  they  had  been  in  considerable  request, 
and  now  he  desired  to  issue  something  from 
the  French  press.  It  is  probable  that  had  his 
present  plan  succeeded,  he  intended  also  to 
publish  in  Paris  that  great  summary  of  his 
doctrines  which  he  was  then  about  to  write, 
and  which  was  his  last  performance. 

353.  "  Arrived  in  Paris  he  submitted  his 
tract  to  M.  Chevreuil,  Censor  Royal  and  Doc- 
tor of  the  Sorbonne,  who  after  having  read  it, 
informed  him  that  a  tacit  permission  to  publish 
would  be  granted  him,  on  condition,  '  as  was 
customary  in  such  cases,'  that  the  title  should 
say,  'printed  at  London,'  or  'at  Amster- 
dam.' Swedenborg  would  not  consent  to  this, 
and  the  work  therefore  was  not  printed  at 
Paris.  Hereupon  a  calumnious  letter  was 
circulated  in  Gottenburg,  which  alleged  that 
he  had  been  ordered  to  quit  Paris,  which  he 
denied  as  'a  direct  falsehood,'  and  appealed 
for  the  truth  of  the  case  to  M.  Creutz,  the 
Swedish  ambassador  to  France. 

354.  "  Rumor  has  been  busy  with  him  upon 
this  journey.  The  French  Biographic  Uni- 
verselle  connects  him  with  an  artist  named 
Elie,  who  it  is  alleged  supplied  him  with 
money,  and  furthered  his  presumed  designs. 
Indeed  he  has  been  accused  of  a  league  with 
the  illumines,  and  with  a  certain  politico-theo- 
logical free  masonry,  centuries  old  but  always 
invisible,  which  was  to  overturn  society,  and 
foster  revolutions  all  over  the  world.  We 
can  only  say,  that  our  researches  have  not 
elicited  these  particulars,  and  that  every  au- 
tiientic  document  shows  that  Swedenborg  stood 
always  upon  his  own  basis,  accepted  money  from 
no  one,  and  was  just  what  he  appeared  —  a 
theological  missionary,  and  notliing  more. 
Still  as  there  is  generally  a  grain  of  truth  ia 
even  the  most  preposterous  lies,  we  shall  be 
glad  to  look  out  in  this  direction  for  biograph- 
ical materials.  Whatever  else  they  be,  they 
shall  at  least  be  welcome. 

3.55.  "In  the  autumn  of  this  year  (1769), 
Swedenborg  had  left  Paris,  and  was  in  Loudon, 
where  he  published  his  little  brochure  on  The 
Intercourse  between  the  Soul  and  the  Body. 
It  was  during  this  sojourn  of  two  or  three 
montiis  that  tiie  most  intimate  of  his  English 
friends,  Dr.  Hartley,  Rector  of  Winwick,  ni 
Northamptonshire,  drew  from  him  a  short  ac- 
count of  himself,  as  a  means  of  refuting  any 
calumnies  that  might  be  promulgated  atier  his 
departure.  Dr.  Hartley  had  thought  that 
Swedenborg  was  hardly  safe  in  his  own  coumry, 
and  that  jjossibly  he  was  pressed  for  money. 
In  course  of  this  mild  and  modest  document, 
Swedenborg  set  him  right  on  these  topics. 
'  I    live,'    says  he,    '  on    terms  of    familiarity 


90 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


and  friendship  with  all  the  bishops  of  my 
country,  who  are  ten  in  number;  as  also  with 
the  sixteen  senators,  and  the  rest  of  the  nobil- 
ity; for  they  know  that  I  am  in  fellowship 
with  jingels.  The  king  and  queen  also,  and 
the  tliree  princes  their  sons,  show  me  much 
favor :  I  was  once  invited  by  the  king  and 
queen  to  dine  at  their  table  —  an  honor  which 
is  in  general  granted  only  to  the  nobility  of 
the  highest  rank ;  and  likewise,  since,  with 
the  hereditary  prince.  They  all  wish  for  my 
return  home  :  so  far  am  I  from  being  in  any  dan- 
ger of  persecution  in  my  own  country,  as  you 
seem  to  apprehend,  and  so  kindly  wish  to  pro- 
vide against;  and  should  any  thing  of  the  kind 
befall  me  elsewhere,  it  cannot  hurt  me.  .  .  . 
I  am  a  Fellow,  by  invitation,  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Sciences  of  Stockholm,  but  I 
never  sought  admission  into  any  other  literary 
society,  as  I  belong  to  an  angelic  society, 
wherein  things  relating  to  heaven  and  the 
soul  are  the  only  subjects  of  discourse  and 
entertainment,  whereas  the  things  that  occupy 
the  attention  of  our  literary  societies  are  sucli 
as  relate  to  the  world  and  the  body.  .  .  . 
As  to  this  world's  wealth,  I  have  what  is  suf- 
ficient, and  more  I  neither  seek  nor  wish  for.' 

356.  "  We  presume  that  Swedenborg  lodged 
with  Shearsmith  in  Cold  Bath  Fields  during 
this  short  sojourn  in  London. 

357.  "On  his  departure  from  England,  he 
had  requested  his  friend,  Dr.  Messiter,  to 
transmit  certain  of  his  works  to  the  Divinity 
Professors  of  the  Universities  of  Edinburgh, 
Glasgow,  and  Aberdeen,  and  the  letters  whicli 
passed  upon  this  occasion  furnish  a  testimony 
to  his  personal  character  from  one  who  knew 
him  well.  Dr.  Hartley,  Dr.  Messiter  (M.  D.), 
and  Dr.  Ilampe,  who  was  preceptor  to  George 
I.,  were  his  chief  English  friends. 

358.  "  In  September  he  quitted  London, 
and  returned  to  Stockholm,  arriving  in  the 
latter  capital  at  the  beginning  of  October. 
On  his  arrival  he  was  kindly  received  by  all 
classes  of  people,  and  at  once  invited  by  their 
royal  highnesses  the  hereditary  prince  and  his 
sister,  with  both  of  whom  he  conversed.  He 
also  dined  with  several  of  the  senators,  and 
talked  with  the  first  members  of  the  Diet,  and 
with  the  bishops  there  present,  who  all  be- 
haved very  kindly  to  him,  excepting  his 
nephew,  Bishop  Filenius.  A  storm,  however, 
had  been  brewing  during  his  absence,  and  he 
now  had  to  meet  it.  Dr.  Hartley's  fears  were 
justified  by  the  facts,  though  not  by  the  ulti- 
mate event.  But  before  we  turn  to  this  new 
page  of  his  life,  we  must  give  some  account 
of  the  works,  that  he  had  just  published  abroad. 

359.  '•  The  Brief  Exposition  is  the  forerunner 
of  the  True  Christian  Religion,  to  be  noticed 
presently.  It  is  a  criticism  on  the  doctrines 
of  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  churches,  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  New  Church.  The 
author  pi>3mises  a  statement  of  the  doctrinal 
views  of  the  three  churches,  for  the  sake  of 


comparison  between  them.  The  Catholic 
doctrinals  are  excerpted  from  the  records  of 
the  Council  of  Trent;  the  Protestant,  from 
the  Formula  Concordice  composed  by  persons 
attached  to  the  Augsburg  Confession.  These 
churches  indeed  dissent  upon  various  points, 
but  are  agreed  as  to  the  fundamentals,  of  a 
trinity  of  persons,  of  original  sin,  of  the  im- 
putation of  Christ's  merits,  and  of  justification 
l)y  faith  alone.  Respecting  the  latter  tenet, 
however,  the  Catholics  conjoin  the  faith  with 
charity  or  good  works,  while  the  leading  Re- 
formers, in  order  to  effect  a  full  severance 
from  the  Romish  communion  as  to  the  very 
essentials  of  the  church  which  are  faith  and 
charity,  separated  between  the  two.  Never- 
theless the  Reformers  adjoin  good  works,  and 
even  conjoin  them  to  their  faith,  but  in  man 
as  a  passive  subject,  whereas  the  Roman 
Catholics  conjoin  them  in  man  as  an  active 
subject.  The  whole  system  of  theology  in 
Christendom  is  founded  upon  an  idea  of  three 
Gods,  arising  from  the  doctrine  of  a  trinity 
of  persons,  and  falls  when  that  doctrine  is  re- 
jected, after  which  saving  faith  is  possible. 
The  faith  of  the  present  day  has  separated 
religion  from  the  church,  since  religion  con- 
sists in  the  acknowledgment  of  one  God,  and  in 
the  worship  of  Him  from  faith  grounded  in 
charity.  The  doctrine  of  the  present  church 
is  interwoven  with  paradoxes,  to  be  embraced 
by  faith  ;  hence  its  tenets  gain  admission  into 
the  memory  only,  and  into  no  part  of  the  un- 
derstanding above  the  memory,  but  merely 
into  contiriaations  below  it.  They  cannot  be 
learned,  or  retained,  without  difficulty,  nor  be 
preached  or  taught  without  using  great  care 
to  conceal  their  nakedness,  because  sound 
reason  neither  discerns  nor  perceives  them. 
They  ascribe  to  God  human  properties  in  the 
worst  sense  of  the  term.  The  heresies  of  all 
ages  have  sprung  from  the  doctrine  founded 
on  the  idea  of  three  Gods.  This  has  deso- 
lated the  church,  and  brought  it  to  its  con- 
summation. The  Catholic  laity,  however, 
have  for  the  most  part  ceased  to  know  any 
thing  of  the  essential  doctrinals  of  their 
church,  these  being  lost  for  them  in  the  nu- 
merous formalities  of  that  religion,  and  hence, 
if  they  recede  in  part  from  their  outward 
forms,  and  approach  God  the  Savior  immedi- 
ately, taking  the  Sacrament  in  both  kinds, 
they  may  be  brought  into  the  New  Church 
more  easily  than  the  Reformed  communities. 

3G0.  '"  These  are  u  few  of  the  propositions 
of  this  little  treatise,  which  for  its  destructive 
logic,  is  unequalled  among  Swedenboi'g's 
works.  If  lational  assault  could  have  carried 
the  outworks  of  the  existing  creeds,  this 
work  would  have  had  the  efi'ect ;  and  Swe- 
denborg would  have  been  justified  in  his 
hope,  that  the  errors  of  the  churches  might 
be  '  extirpated '  by  a  book.  But  an  error 
whose  first  condition  lies  in  the  prostration  of 
the    understanding,    is   good,   so  far,    against 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


91 


rational  attacks.  Dialectics  make  no  impres- 
sion on  whoever  believes  that  man  is  a  spir- 
itual fool,  doomed  by  liis  constitution  to  believe 
in  nonsense  and  absurdity  :  that  is  to  say,  in 
what  would  be  such  if  he  dared  to  judge  it  by 
his  reason.  This  fortress,  viz,,  the  denial  of 
the  mind  itself  by  both  churches,  is  tlierefore 
yet  unstorraed  by  our  author's  artillery ;  and 
it  is  evident  that  more  real  and  terrible  means 
must  gather  to  battle  around  it,  before  it  will 
capitulate.  At  the  same  time,  the  longer  it 
holds  out,  the  more  is  the  laity  separated  from 
the  clergy  ;  the  more  the  sciences  and  posi- 
tive knowledge  claim  the  earth  to  its  very 
walls  ;  the  more  the  clerical  garrison  is  starved 
in  the  sight  of  the  abundance  of  natural  truth; 
and  in  the  end,  the  more  likely  it  is  that  some 
convulsion,  either  mental  or  worldly,  will 
sweep  away  the  strong  offence,  and  substitute 
a  people's  church  upon  its  desert  site. 

Intercourse  between  the  Soul  and  Body. 

361.  "  The  Intercourse  between  the  Soul  and 

the  Body  is  a  work  in  which  the  author  brings 

his  spiritual  sight  to  bear  upon  the  solution 

of  that  old  problem.     In  this  world,   the  soul 

•  is  unseen,  excepting  through  the  body  ;  and 
though  consciousness  affirms  its  existence,  yet 
philosophy  gives  it  no  qualities  that  warrant 
us  to  say  what  it  is.  In  short,  philosophy 
crushes  the  question,  and  insists  that  there  is 
no  what  in  the  case.  The  consequence  is, 
that  we  too  often  regard  the  soul  as  a  floating 
and  indeterminate  entity  of  no  weight  to  coun- 
terbalance the  world  and  the  senses.  This 
gives  rise  to  the  doctrine  of  Physical  Influx, 
which  means  in  brief  the  omnipotence  of  out- 
ward objects  and  of  sense,  in  controlling  and 
filling  the  inward  faculties,  and  even  accord- 
ing to  many  in  creating  them.     The  contrary 

.  view  is  that  of  spiritual  injlux,  in  which  the 
soul,  whatever  it  be,  is  seated  upon  the  throne 
of  the  human  powers,  takes  from  the  senses 
whatever  it  wills,  and  acts  according  to  cir- 
cumstances from  its  own  wisdom.  There  is  a 
third  system,  that  of  Leibnitz,  named  preestab- 
lished  harmony,  wherein  neither  soul  nor  body 
acts  upon  the  other,  but  each  concurs  with  the 
other,  and  does  what  the  other  does  ;  much  as 
two  men  might  move  their  arms  or  legs  to  time 
under  some  ordering  common  to  both.  The 
theory  of  spiritual  influx  is  that  which  Swe- 
denborg  adopts  ;  and  which  he  fills  with  his 
experience, 

3G2,  "  The  problem  of  this  link  had  dwelt 
with  his  understanding  from  his  earlier  days, 
and  he  had  given  a  keen  refutation  of  Leib- 
nitz when  writing  his  anatomical  works  ;  for 
he  saw  that  that  great  genius  was  not  solving 
the  question  by  his  hypothesis,  but  only  ren- 
dering it  insuperable,  by  propounding  as  a 
solution  a  statement  still  more  knotty  ;  since 
his  preestablished  iiarmony  required  in  point 
of  fact  a  second  soul  to  move  two  bodies  in- 
stead of  one.     For  the  drill  effecting  the  har- 


mony of  course  proceeded  from  some  word 
of  command  ;  in  short,  from  a  more  inscruta- 
ble soul,  Preestal)lished  harmony  was  there- 
fore to  Swedcnborg  but  another  name  for 
m(!thodical  darkness,  which  terminated  the 
thought  that  it  professed  to  extend. 

3()3.  "  Now  here  we  see  the  value  of  spir- 
itual sight  on  a  difficult  point.  While  the  soul 
was  unknown,  its  manner  of  communication 
with  the  body  was  necessarily  occult,  but  when 
it  is  actually  seen  as  the  man  himself,  with  all 
his  looks,  members  and  garments  about  him, 
then  the  matter  took  a  practical  form,  and  he, 
the  soul,  was  united  to  the  body,  because  he 
wanted  it  to  supply  his  sensations  from,  and 
do  his  work  in,  the  world.  The  error  lay  in 
thinking  of  the  soul  as  not  a  body,  and  not  a 
man  ;  the  pow(;r  of  the  truth  in  looking  from 
humanity  as  the  way  of  answering  the  ques- 
tion The  soul,  in  this  new  view,  is  the  com- 
j)lete  man  ;  the  body  is  his  fit  natural  garment. 
The  latter  he  puts  on,  by  a  divine  necessity, 
to  clothe  the  spiritual  essence  from  the  rude- 
ness of  this  world,  and  to  enable  hira  to  work 
amid  its  inclemencies,  and  to  gather  its  fruits 
of  wisdom,  for  a  convenient  season.  In  this 
case  there  are  all  the  common  motives  for  the 
union  of  the  soul-man  with  the  body-man,  that 
there  are  for  our  union  with  our  clothes,  with 
our  houses,  and  with  every  circumstance  that 
we  draw  around  us  to  extend  our  lives  and 
build  up  our  state.  This  once  seen,  analogy 
points  out  a  thousand  links  between  the  spir- 
itual and  the  natural  man,  every  one  of  which 
is  practical,  and  of  daily  force. 

364.  "  Swedenborg  also  illustrated  the  doc- 
trine of  the  influx  of  the  soul  into  the  body, 
by  the  analogous  influx  of  the  whole  spiritual 
world  into  the  natural.  As  a  scientific  man, 
he  had  already  seen  the  law  of  spheres  afar 
off  in  the  doctrine  of  Modif  cations,  which 
recognized  the  manner  in  which  the  vital  and 
other  vibrations  permeate  the  world  ;  in  which 
the  Word  of  God  and  the  words  of  man  — ia 
which  all  expressions,  whether  looks,  voices, 
acts,  or  things  —  make  their  way  through  the 
universe,  and  infect  with  their  own  life  and 
power  the  system  and  its  parts.  But  when 
he  visited  the  inner  world,  the  matter  came 
under  conditions  suited  to  experimental  sci- 
ence. He  now  touched  the  reality  of  spheres. 
The  scents,  colors  and  forces  environing  hu- 
manity struck  his  opened  senses,  and  he  was 
amazed  at  their  tidal  power.  As  every  spirit 
belongs  to  some  province  of  the  Grand  Man, 
his  presence  excites  correspondently  that  part 
of  the  human  body  to  which  he  answers. 
When  a  liver  spirit  approached  to  Sweden- 
borg, he  felt  the  influx,  sometimes  before  the 
spirit  came  in  view,  in  his  own  hepatic  region, 
and  he  knew  the  quality  of  the  spirit  from  his 
operant  sphere.  When  one  of  the  eye  men  or 
of  the  heart  men  came  near  him,  his  own  eyes 
or  heart,  sympathetically  affected,  told  him  at 
once  whither  the  new  comer  belonged.    When 


92 


LITE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


evil  spirits  sought  him,  the  maladies  or  pains  ] 
to  which  they  answered  were  excited  for  the 
time  in  his  system ;  he  knew  therefore  that 
spiritually  these  messengers  were  even  such 
diseases.  Hypocrites  gave  him  a  pain  in  the 
teeth,  because  hypocrisy  is  spiritual  toothache. 
Moreover  each  spirit  appeared  in  the  plane 
of  the  part  whereto  he  corresponded  ;  for  the 
cosmogony  of  the  spiritual  world  is  human, 
and  hence  the  human  body  is  the  pivot  round 
which  it  plays.  Nay,  the  body  has  its  human 
form  from  the  circumpressure  of  the  human 
spiritual  world,  which,  so  to  speak,  deposits 
and  maintains  it,  much  as  each  cell  of  tlie  ma- 
terial body  is  laid  and  preserved  by  the  plan 
and  pressure  of  the  whole. 

Persecution,  and  Defence  of  his  Opinions. 

3G5.  "  We  have  mentioned  already  that  in 
this  year  (17G9)  Swedenborg  had  found,  on 
his  return  to  Sweden,  that  his  peaceful  life 
was  to  be  interrupted  by  misrepresentation 
and  persecution.  It  is  surprising  that  he  had 
proceeded  so  long  in  promulgating  doctrines 
condemnatory  of  the  Lutheran  creed,  without 
drawing  down  upon  himself  the  vengeance  of 
the  clergy.  His  works,  however,  were  writ- 
ten in  Latin,  and  but  little  known  in  Sweden, 
which  made  it,  for  a  time,  not  worth  while  to 
notice  them.  But  wlien  eminent  persons  like 
Drs.  Beyer  and  Rosen,  as  well  as  othei'S  en- 
joying still  higher  dignity  in  the  church,  be- 
came avowed  disciples  and  propagators  of  their 
sentiments,  the  matter  became  serious;  and 
the  clergy,  ever  sensitive  of  innovation,  deter- 
mined to  crush  the  new  doctrine  in  the  bud. 
Dean  Ekebom  at  Gottenburg  was  the  origina- 
tor of  the  movement.  The  clerical  deputies 
from  that  town  were  instructed  to  complain 
of  Swedenborg  and  Dr.  Beyer  in  the  Diet. 
The  tactics  of  his  adversaries  were  sufficiently 
cunning;  he  was  to  be  put  upon  his  trial,  and 
examined  ;  and  as,  when  questioned,  there 
was  no  doubt  tliat  he  would  assert  openly  his 
divine  commission  and  spiritual  privileges,  it 
would  tlien  be  easy  to  declare  him  insane,  and 
consign  him  to  a  madiiouse.  One  of  the  sen- 
ators, (it  is  said  Count  Hopken,)  disclosed  to 
him  by  letter  this  plot,  and  advised  him  to 
quit  the  country.  On  receiving  the  informa- 
tion, he  was  greatly  afiected,  and  retiring  to 
his  garden,  fell  upon  his  knees,  and  prayed 
that  the  Lord  would  direct  him  what  to  do. 
A  response  was  immediately  received  from  an 
angel,  that  '  he  might  rest  securely  upon  his 
arm  in  the  night,'  whereby  is  meant  that  night 
in  which  the  world  is  sunk  in  matters  pertain- 
\ing  to  the  church.  Assured  by  this  comfort- 
ing message,  Swedenborg,  who  was  not  allowed 
to  be  present  at  the  debates  on  his  cause,  and 
knew  notliing  of  the  details  of  what  happened, 
enjoyed  the  cahn  in  his  chamber,  and  let  tlie 
storm  rage  without  as  much  as  it  pleased. 
Clamor,  indeed,  lie  knew  that  there  was  among 
a  great  part  of  the  clerical  body  ;  but '  clamor,' 


as  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Beyer,  'does  no  harn.. 
being  like  the  ferment  in  new  wine,  which 
precedes  its  purification  ;  for  unless  what  is 
wrong  be  winnowed,  and  rejected,  the  right 
cannot  be  discerned  or  received.'  For  this  rea- 
son (Dec.  29, 1769)  he  '  did  not  stir  one  step  to 
defend  his  cause,  knowing  that  the  Lord  Him- 
self, our  Savior,  defends  his  church.'  It  was 
finally  concluded  at  the  Diet  and  in  the  Coun- 
cil, not  to  touch  his  person  ;  a  resolution  owing 
in  great  part  to  the  rank  and  character  of  the 
accused,  and  to  his  relationship  to  many  noble 
families,  both  in  and  out  of  the  church. 

3GG.  "  But  we  must  return  to  the  beginning 
of  this  afiair,  to  give  the  details.  The  party 
in  Gottenburg,  headed  by  Dean  Ekebom, 
found  a  ready  instrument  at  Stockholm  in 
Bishop  Filenius,  then  president  of  the  House 
of  Clergy,  for  carrying  their  complaint  directly 
before  the  Diet.  The  first  obnoxious  meas- 
ure taken  was  the  stoppage  of  a  number  of 
copies  of  Swedenborg's  work  on  Corijugial 
Love  at  Nork-joping,  whither  he  had  sent 
them  from  England,  in  anticipation  of  his  own 
arrival,  intending,  when  he  came  to  Sweden, 
to  make  presents  of  them,  as  was  his  wont. 
They  were  however  detained  for  examination, 
according  to  a  law  prohibiting  the  introduc- 
tion of  books  reputed  contrary  to  the  Lutheran 
faith.  Swedenborg  naturally  turned  to  his 
nephew,  Bishop  Filenius,  requiring  an  ex- 
planation of  the  affair,  and  requested  the 
Bishop's  friendly  offices  to  have  the  box 
cleared.  Filenius  embraced  and  kissed  him, 
and  cordially  promised  his  assistance ;  not- 
withstanding which  he  did  every  thing  in  his 
power  to  insure  the  confiscation  of  the  books. 
When  this  became  apparent,  Swedenborg  ex- 
postulated with  him,  and  he  now  insisted  on 
the  work  being  revised,  before  it  was  given 
up.  It  was  urged  by  the  author,  that  as  his 
treatise  was  'not  theological,  but  chiefiy  moral,' 
its  revisal  by  clerical  order  was  unnecessary, 
and  would  be  absurd ;  and  that  the  exercise 
of  such  a  censorship  would  pave  the  way  for 
a  dark  age  in  Sweden.  Filenius  was  inflexi- 
ble, and  his  intentions  manifest.  Swedenborg, 
deeply  aggrieved  by  the  duplicity  of  the  Bish- 
op his  relation,  likened  him  to  Judas  Iscariot, 
and  said  pointedly,  in  allusion  to  the  foregoing 
circumstances,  that  '  he  who  spoke  lies,  lied 
also  in  his  life.'  In  the  mean  time  he  took 
good  care  to  distribute  the  work  to  those  he 
intended  to  receive  it,  bishops,  senators,  and 
members  of  the  royal  family,  from  a  number 
of  copies  that  he  had  himself  brought  home. 

3G7.  "He  was  now  determined  to  clear  the 
matter  up,  and  made  inquiries  among  others 
of  the  bishops,  as  to  how  the  case  stood  with 
his  writings.  They  all  told  him  that  they 
supposed  the  books  had  merely  been  taken  care 
of  until  his  return  ;  that  they  knew  nothing 
of  any  other  detention ;  that  if  such  there 
were,  Filenius  had  acted  on  his  own  authority. 
He  had  indeed  made  a  representation  on  the 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBOIIG. 


93 


subject  in  the  Diet,  but  the  clerical  house  had 
not  rec('ived  his  motion,  had  not  even  regis- 
tered it  among  their  proceedings,  and  above 
■ill,  had  sanctioned  no  confiscation. 

3fi8.  "The  proceedings  in  the  Diet,  as  he 
afterwards  learned,  had  been  somewhat  as  fol- 
lows. The  liishop  Filenius,  who  attacked 
Swedenborg  '  in  the  first  instance  from  a  se- 
cret dislike,  but  afterwards  out  of  inveteracy,' 
had  gained  over  some  members  of  the  clerical 
order  to  his  own  views.  He  procured  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  committee  of  the  House  of 
('lergy  on  the  Swedenborgian  cause.  Its  de- 
liberations were  kept  secret.  But  though  it 
consisted  of  bishops  and  professors,  this  com- 
mittee, after  hearing  evidence,  ignored  the 
charges  of  Filenius,  and  terminated  with  a 
report  in  Swedenborg's  favor ;  in  the  course 
of  which  they  took  occasion  to  speak  of  him 
•  very  handsomely  and  reasonably.'  Filenius, 
however,  gained  one  point ;  viz.,  that  a  me- 
morial should  be  presented  to  the  King  in 
Council,  requesting  the  attention  of  the  Chan- 
cellor of  .Tustice  to  the  troubles  at  Gottenburg. 
This  was  intended  to  procure  a  censure  upon 
Drs.  Beyer  and  Rosen,  and  indirectly  upon 
Swedenborg  also.  In  consequence,  a  letter 
was  addressed  by  the  C!iancel!or  to  the  Con- 
sistory, to  desire  its  O[)inion  upon  the  affair ; 
which  occasioned  the  subject  to  be  again  agi- 
tated for  two  days  in  the  Council,  where  the 
king  presided. 

309.  "  When  matters  came  to  this  pass, 
Swedenborg  at  once,  May  10.  1770,  addressed 
his  majesty  in  a  bold  and  characteristic  memo- 
rial. He  complained  that  he  had  met  with 
usage  the  like  of  which  had  been  offered  to 
none  since  the  establishment  of  Christianity  in 
Sweden,  and  much  less  since  there  had  exist- 
ed liberty  of  conscience.  He  recapitulated 
his  grievances.  He  said  that  he  had  been 
attacked,  calumniated  and  menaced,  without 
the  opportunity  of  defending  himself;  though 
truth  itself  had  answered  .  for  him.  He  re- 
minded his  majesty  of  an  interview  that  had 
passed  between  them.  'I  have  already  in- 
formed your  majesty,'  says  he,  '  and  beseech 
you  to  recall  it  to  mind,  that  the  Lord  our 
Savior  manifested  himself  to  me  in  a  sensible 
personal  appearance ;  that  he  has  commanded 
me  to  write  what  has  been  already  done,  and 
what  I  have  still  to  do;  that  he  was  after- 
wards graciously  pleased  to  endow  me  with  the 
privilege  of  conversing  with  angels  and  spirits, 
and  of  being  in  fellowship  with  them.  1  have 
already  declared  this  more  than  once  to  your 
majesty  in  the  presence  of  all  the  royal  family, 
when  they  were  graciously  pleased  to  invite  me 
to  their  table  with  five  senators,  and  several 
other  persons ;  this  was  the  only  subject  dis- 
coursed of  during  the  repast.  Of  this  I  also 
epoke  afterwards  to  several  other  senators; 
and  more  openly  to  their  excellencies  Count  de 
Tessin,  Count  Bonde,  and  Count  Hopken,  who 
are  still  alive,  and  were  satisfied  with  the  truth 


of  it.  I  have  declared  the  same  in  England, 
Holland,  Germany,  Denmark,  and  at  Paris, 
to  kings,  princes,  and  other  particular  persons, 
as  well  as  to  those  in  this  kingdom.  If  the 
common  report  is  to  be  believed,  the  chancel- 
lor has  declared,  that  what  I  have  been  re- 
citing are  untruths,  although  the  very  truth. 
To  say  that  they  cannot  believe  and  give 
credit  to  such  things,  therein  will  I  excuse 
them,  for  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  place  others 
in  the  same  state  in  which  God  has  placed 
me ;  so  as  to  be  able  to  convince  them,  by 
their  own  eyes  and  ears,  of  the  truth  of  those 
deeds  and  things  I  publicly  have  made  known. 
I  have  no  aljility  to  capacitate  them  to  con- 
verse with  angels  and  spirits,  neither  to  work 
miracles  to  dispose  or  force  their  understand- 
ings to  comprehend  what  I  say.  When  my 
writings  are  read  with  attention  and  cool  reflec- 
tion (in  which  many  things  are  to  be  met  with 
heretofore  unknown),  it  is  easy  enough  to  con- 
clude, that  I  could  not  come  to  such  knowledge 
but  by  a  n-al  vision,  and  by  conversing  with 
those  who  are  in  the  spiritual  world.  .  .  . 
This  knowledge  is  given  to  me  from  our  Sa- 
vior, not  for  any  private  merit  of  mine,  but  for 
the  great  concern  of  all  Christians'  salvation 
and  happiness  ;  and  as  such,  how  can  any  one 
venture  to  assert  that  it  is  false?  That  these 
things  may  appear  such  as  many  have  had  no 
conception  of,  and  of  consequence,  that  they 
cannot  easily  credit,  has  notiiing  remarkable 
in  it,  for  scarcely  any  thing  is  known  respect- 
ing them.' 

370.  "  He  concluded  by  throwing  himself 
upon  the  king's  protection,  and  by  requesting 
the  monarch  to  command  for  himself  the  opin- 
ion of  the  reverend  clergy  on  his  case ;  also 
the  production  of  the  various  documents  that 
had  passed  at  Gottenburg  and  elsewhere  ;  in 
order  that  he,  and  those  maligned  along  with 
him,  might  be  heard  in  their  defence,  this 
being  their  right  and  privilege.  The  only 
advice,  he  })rotested,  that  he  had  given  to  Drs. 
Beyer  and  Rosen,  was  to  address  themselves 
to  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ,  as  a 
means  to  heavenly  good  and  blessedness,  for 
he  only  has  all  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth, 
(Matt,  xxviii.  18.) 

37L  "The  latter  point  was  in  truth  the 
core  of  the  controversy  that  was  raging  about 
him,  and  was  one  which  his  writings  are  cal- 
culated to  provoke  wherever  they  are  dissemi- 
nated. Is  prayer  to  be  addressed  to  the  Fa- 
ther, or  to  the  Redeemer?  to  the  invisible 
Being,  or  to  God  with  us  ?  to  the  revealed 
Divine  Face  and  Bod}^  or  to  the  unrevealed 
Divine  Soul?  Have  worship  and  prayer  a 
definite  object  or  not?  Swedenborg  ably  cited 
on  his  own  side  the  text  of  scripture,  the 
Augsburg  Confession, the  Formula  Concordia;, 
and  the  Liturgies  of  his  own  Communion; 
and  showed  that  wherever  the  church  had  de- 
parted from  vagueness  and  mystery,  its  prac- 
tices  were  accordant  with  his  views.     To  the 


94 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


Son  of  God,  born  in  time,  every  son  of  time 
must  address  himself,  in  order  to  find  salva- 
tion. Were  this  doctrine  taken  away,  he 
averred  that  he  would  rather  live  in  Tartary 
than  in  Christendom.  Did  the  persecution 
against  him  succeed,  it  might  amount  to  a 
prohibition  from  the  clergy  against  their  flocks 
addressing  prayer  to  the  personal  Savior:  a 
dangerous  issue,  which  probably  his  opponents 
foresaw,  and  were  not  prepared  to  accept.  It 
does  not  appear  that  throughout  the  dispute, 
his  visions  were  brought  upon  the  carpet,  oth- 
erwise than  as  furnishing  the  general  charge 
of  unsoundness  of  mind,  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  certain  members  of  the  House  of  Clergy 
meditated,  but  did  not  venture  to  bring  for- 
ward. 

372.  "  King  Adolphus  Frederic  had  in  the 
mean  time  already  commanded  the  members 
of  the  Consistory  of  Gottenburg  to  send  in 
an  unequivocal  representation  of  the  light  in 
which  the  assessor's  principles  were  regarded 
by  the  Consistory.  On  the  2d  of  January, 
1770,  Dr.  Beyer,  as  one  of  the  members,  vol- 
unteered a  declaration  on  the  subject,  in  which 
he  gave  a  manly  testimony  in  favor  of  Swe- 
denborg  and  his  doctrines,  citing  his  own  ex- 
perience about  them,  and  his  views  of  their 
moral  and  spiritual  tendency.  '  Convinced 
by  experience,'  says  he,  '  I  must  in  the  first 
place  observe,  that  no  man  is  competent  to 
give  a  just  and  suitable  judgment  of  those 
writings,  who  has  not  read  them,  or  who  has 
read  them  only  superficially,  or  with  a  deter- 
mination in  his  heart  to  reject  them,  after  hav- 
ing perused,  without  examination,  some  de- 
tached parts  only:  neither  is  he  competent, 
who  rejects  them  as  soon  as  he  finds  any  thing 
that  militates  against  those  doctrines  which  he 
has  long  cherished  and  acknowledged  as  true, 
and  of  which  perhaps  he  is  but  too  blindly 
enamoured :  nor  is  he  competent,  who  is  an 
ardent,  yet  undiscriminating  biblical  scholar, 
that,  in  explaining  the  meaning  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, confines  his  ideas  to  the  literal  expression 
or  signification  only  :  and,  lastly,  neither  is  he 
competent,  who  has  altogether  devoted  himself 
to  sensual  indulgences,  and  the  love  of  the 
world.'  He  concluded  his  memorial  as  follows : 
*  In  obedience,  therefore,  to  your  majesty's  most 
gracious  command,  that  I  should  deliver  a 
full  and  positive  "  declaration  "  respecting  the 
writings  of  Swedenborg,  I  do  acknowledge  it 
to  be  my  duty  to  declare,  in  all  hun)ble  confi- 
tience,  that  as  far  as  I  have  proceeded  in  the 
study  of  them,  and  agreeabl}'  to  the  gift  grant- 
ed to  me  for  investigation  and  judgment,  I 
have  found  in  them  nothing  but  what  closely 
coincides  with  the  words  ot  the  Lord  Himself, 
and  that  they  shine  with  a  light  truly  divine.' 

373.  "  The  Consistory,  as  a  body,  came  to 
no  report  upon  Swedenborg's  writings;  and  a 
ehort  time  before  he  left  Sweden  on  his  hist 
voyage,  being  in  the  king's  company,  the  latter 
said  to  him  :  '  The  Consistory  has  been  silent 


on  my  letters  and  your  works;'  and  putting 
his  hand  on  Swedenborg's  shoulder,  he  added: 
'  We  may  conclude  that  they  have  found  noth- 
ing reprehensible  in  them,  and  that  you  have 
written  in  conformity  to  the  truth.' 

374.  "Throughout  this  affiiir,  his  adversa- 
ries attempted  in  vain  to  ruffle  his  calmness, 
by  personal  invective.  He  answered  them 
with  honest  vigor,  but  always  from  the  facts 
of  the  case.  Against '  the  indecent  barkings 
of  the  Dean,'  he  told  Dr.  Beyer,  in  a  private 
letter,  '  they  must  not  throw  stones  to  drive 
them  away.'  And  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Wenn- 
gren,  a  magistrate  of  Gottenburg,  that  as  for 
certain  '  merciless  slanderers '  in  the  clerical 
party,  their  expressions  '  had  fallen  on  the 
ground  like  fireballs  from  the  clouds,  and 
there  had  gone  out.'  In  the  mean  time  Swe- 
denborg persevered  in  his  own  course,  with 
an  efiicacious  industry  which  neither  this  tur- 
moil, nor  his  advanced  years,  abated  for  a 
moment. 

375.  "  Here  our  narrative  of  the  affair 
ceases.  Swedenborg,  before  his  last  departure 
from  Sweden,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Uni- 
versities of  Upsal,  Lund,  and  Abo,  asserting 
that  each  of  the  estates  of  the  kingdom  ought 
to  have  its  consistory,  and  ought  not  to  ac- 
knowledge the  exclusive  authority  of  that  at 
Gottenburg.  He  declared  (in  another  place) 
that  religious  matters  belong  to  others  also 
besides  the  priestly  order.  It  appears  that, 
notwithstanding  the  termination  of  the  contro- 
versy in  his  favor,  his  adversaries  had  suc- 
ceeded in  enforcing  a  strict  prohibition  against 
the  importation  of  his  writings  into  Sweden, 
as  he  found  out  the  next  year  (1771).  In 
consequence  of  this,  it  was  his  intention  to 
send  in  a  formal  complaint  to  the  States  Gen- 
eral against  the  Counsellor  of  State,  the  pre- 
sumed instrument  of  the  prohibition ;  but 
whether  he  fulfilled  this  purpose  we  do  not 
know."  —  Wilki'nso)i's  Biography^  pp.  174—195. 

Spiritual  Phenomena.  The  Insaaie  and  Idiotic. 

376.  We  find  also,  in  this  year,  the  follow- 
ing account  concerning  some  remarkable  par- 
ticulars which  took  place  with  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Beyer,  while  upon  her  death  bed.  It  is  in  a 
letter  to  the  Dr.,  in  reply  to  his  questionings. 

"  The  remarkable  particulars  related  concern- 
ing your  wife,  in  her  dying  hours,  were  wrought 
through  the  impression  of  two  clergymen,  who  so 
directed  and  employed  her  thoughts  in  conversa- 
tion, as  to  effect  a  conjunction  with  such  spirits  as 
she  then  spoke  of".  In  the  hour  of  death,  it  hap- 
pens at  times,  to  some  people,  that  they  are  in  a 
state  of  the  spirit.  The  spirits,  wb.o  first  spoke 
through  her,  were  of  the  dragon's  society,  that 
were  cast  out  of  heaven,  agreeably  to  the  predic- 
tion in  the  Revelation,  xii.  They  are  thence 
become  so  filled  with  enmity  and  hatred  towards 
our  Savior,  and,  consequently,  towards  His  holy 
Word,  and  all  that  belongs  to  the  New  Church, 
that  they  cannot  even  bear  to  hear  the  name  of 
Christ  mentioned.  When  the  sphere  of  the  Lord, 
proceeding  from  the  heavens,  lights  on  them,  they 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


95 


become  as  it  wore  mad,  and  in  a  terrible  rage  ;  and 
directly  seek  to  hide  themselves  in  holes  and  cav- 
erns, as  spoken  of  in  the  Revelation,  vi.  If).  Your 
deceased  wife  was  with  me  yesterday,  and  informed 
me  of  a  variety  of  thinofs  concernincr  what  she 
thoiigiit,  and  what  she  had  spoken  to  you  her  hus- 
band, and  to  the  clergymen,  the  seducers.  Were 
I  at  tiiis  time  near  you,  I  could  relate  a  numher  of 
things  on  this  head,  which  will  not  admit  of  being 
sent  in  writing.  —  I  remain.  Sec, 

"  Emanuel  Swedenborg. 
»  Stockholm,  October  80,  17(ii)." 

377.  In  the  same  year,  also,  appears  the 
letter  to  Dr.  Beyer,  in  wliich  he  makes  men- 
tion of  the  state  of  idiots  and  of  the  insane, 
after  death.     lie  says:  — 

"There  exist  spiritual  diseases  and  spiritual 
uses  in  the  other  life  which  correspond  with  the 
natural  diseases  and  cures  in  this  world,  so  that 
the  correspondences  effect  such  things  when  they 
happen.  And  as  there  are  no  natural  diseases 
among  the  spirits  in  tlio  spiritual  world,  there  arc 
neither  any  hospitals  ;  but  instead  of  them  there 
are  spiritual  madhouses,  in  which  are  those  who 
theoretically  denied  God,  and  in  others,  such  as 
practically  did  the  same.  Those  who  in  the  world 
were  idiots,  at  their  arrival  in  the  other  world  are 
also  foolish  and  idiots  ;  but  being  divested  of  their 
externals,  and  their  internals  opened  as  is  the  case 
with  them  all,  they  acquire  an  understanding  agree- 
able to  their  former  quality  and  life,  inasmuch  as  the 
acliutl  follies  and  madnesses  dwell  in  the  external 
nalur at  man,  and  not  in  the  internal  spiritual.^''  — 
Documents,  p.  129,  130. 

Oflfering  to  Science.    Journey  to  Amsterdam. 
An  Evening  at  Copenhagen. 

378.  "  At  this  period  of  his  life  Sweden- 
borg made  a  last  oflfering  to  his  old  associates 
of  the  Eoyal  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Stock- 
holm. This  was  couched  in  a  letter,  in  which, 
after  explaining  some  of  the  correspondences 
of  the  Scripture,  he  ended  as  follows  :  '  Inas- 
much as  the  science  of  correspondences  was 
the  science  of  sciences  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
ancients,  it  is  important  that  some  memher  of 
your  Academy  should  direct  his  attention  to 
that  science.  He  may  begin,  if  he  pleases, 
with  the  correspondences  discovered  in  the 
Apocalypse  Revealed,  and  proved  from  the 
Word.  If  it  be  desired,  I  am  willing  to  un- 
fold and  publish  the  Egyptian  liieroglyphics, 
which  are  nothing  else  than  correspondences  ; 
a  task  that  no  other  person  can  accomplish.' 
How  fixedly  Swedenborg  must  have  dwelt  in 
the  inward,  to  imagine  that  the  Royal  Acade- 
my would  undertake  such  an  inquiry,  or  that 
a  purely  spiritual  explanation  of  the  hiero- 
glyphics would  satisfy  the  men  of  that  age ! 
So  for  as  hieroglyphical  interpretation  has 
gone,  the  sense  elicited  is  any  thing  but  spir- 
itual ;  and  the  less  spiritual,  the  more  accept- 
able to  the  scientific  man.  Nevertheless  the 
existing  interpretations  do  not  exclude  a 
deeper  significance  lying  at  the  roots  of  the 
eymbcls  ;  an  interpretation  of  them  not  as 
parts  of  language,  but  as  ciphers  of  nature. 
But  the  time  has  not  yet  arrived  for  such  an 


inquiry.  One  cannot  help  recalling  what 
Swedenborg  said  to  Hartley,  that  he  sought 
admission  into  no  literary  society,  because  ho 
belonged  to  an  angelic  society,  wherein  things 
relating  to  heaven  and  the  soul  were  the  only 
subjects  of  entertainment.  The  Royal  Acade- 
my of  Stockholm  was  not  an  angelic  society. 
Whether  this  communication  was  j»resented 
to  the  Academy,  and,  if  so,  iiow  it  was  received, 
we  are  not  aware :  Swedenborg  also  sent  it  to 
Dr.  Hartley,  with  a  request  tliat  his  circle  of 
friends  would  investigate  the  subject.  It  has 
since  been  published  as  an  appendix  to  the 
White  Horse. 

37!).  "  From  the  beginning  of  October,  1769, 
until  August,  1770,  he  resided  at  his  house  in 
the  environs  of  Stockholm.  On  the  23d  of 
July  in  the  latter  year,  on  the  eve  of  depart- 
ing for  Amsterdam,  he  took  his  leave  by  letter 
of  Dr.  Beyer,  '  hoping  that  our  Savior  would 
support  him  in  good  health,  keep  him  from 
further  violence,  and  bless  his  thoughts.'  On 
the  day  that  he  quitted  Stockholm,  he  called 
upon  M.  Robsahm  in  the  bank  of  Sweden,  of 
which  that  gentleman  was  a  director,  and 
lodged  in  his  hnnds  a  protest  against  any  ju- 
dicial examination  of  his  writings  during  his 
absence.  M.  Robsahm  asked  him,  as  before 
the  other  journey,  whether  they  would  ever 
meet  again  ?  He  answered  in  a  gentle  and 
affectionate  manner,  '  Whether  I  shall  return, 
I  do  not  know,  but  of  this  you  may  be  certain, 
for  the  Lord  has  informed  me  of  it,  that  I  shall 
not  die  until  the  book  that  I  have  just  finished 
is  printed.  Should  we  not  see  each  other 
again  in  this  world,  we  shall  meet  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord  if  we  have  kept  his  com- 
mandments.' '  He  then,'  says  Robsahm, '  took 
leave  of  me  in  as  lively  and  cheerful  a  way  as 
if  he  had  been  a  man  of  middle  age.'  And 
so  he  passed  from  his  fatherland. 

380.  "  On  the  voyage  to  Amsterdam,  the 
ship  that  carried  him  was  detained  for  several 
days  by  contrary  winds  ofl'  Ijjsinore,  and  Gen- 
eral Tuxen,  hearing  that  Swedenborg  was  in 
the  offing,  determined  to  improve  their  ac- 
quaintance, and  taking  a  boat  went  off  to  see 
him.  He  was  introduced  by  the  Captain,  who 
0[)ened  the  cabin  door,  and  shutting  it  after 
him,  left  him  alone  with  Swedenborg.  Tiie 
Assessor  was  seated  in  an  undress,  his  elbows 
on  the  table,  and  his  hands  supporting  his  face, 
which  was  turned  towards  the  door  ;  his  eyes 
open,  and  much  elevated.  The  General  at 
once  addressed  him.  At  this  he  recovered 
himself,  (for  he  had  been  in  a  trance  or  ecsta- 
sy, as  his  posture  showed)  rose  with  some 
confusion,  advanced  a  few  steps  from  the  table 
in  visible  uncertainty,  and  bid  him  welcome, 
asking  from  whence  he  came.  Tuxen  replied 
that  he  had  come  with  an  invitation  from  his 
wife  and  himself,  to  request  him  to  favor  them 
with  his  company  at  their  house  ;  to  which  he 
immediately  consented,  and  dressed  himself 
alertly.     The  General's  wife,  who  was  indis- 


96 


LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OF    EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


posed,  received  him  in  the  house,  and  request- 
ed his  excuse  if  in  any  respect  she  should  fall 
short  of  her  wishes  to  entertain  him  ;  adding 
that  for  thirty  years  she  had  been  afflicted 
with  a  painful  disease.  He  politely  kissed 
her  hand,  and  answered,  '  O,  dear,  of  this  we 
will  not  speak  ;  only  acquiesce  in  the  will  of 
God,  it  will  pass  away,  and  you  will  return  to 
the  same  health  and  beauty  as  when  you  were 
fifteen  years  old.'  The  lady  made  some  reply, 
to  which  he  rejoined,  '  Yes,  in  a  few  weeks.' 
From  which  they  concluded  him  to  mean,  that 
diseases  which  have  their  foundation  in  the  mind, 
.  and  are  supported  by  the  infirmities  of  the 
body,  do  not  disappear  immediately  after  death. 

381.  "We  have  hitherto  had  little  opportu- 
nity of  being  introduced  to  Swedenborg  in  pri- 
vate life  ;  we  have  seen  him  at  the  mines,  at  his 
office,  at  his  desk,  and  in  the  Diet ;  let  us  now 
spend  a  portion  of  an  evening  with  him  at  Gen- 
eral Tuxen's.  Even  if  it  illustrates  no  doc- 
trine, yet  it  is  always  coveted  to  enjoy  the  fa- 
miliar presence  of  extraordinary  persons,  and 
to  tind  that  their  habiliments  and  corporeal 
mould  are  like  our  own.  The  brotherliness  of 
mankind  is  gratified  by  these  near  occasions, 
even  as  more  sublime  but  not  dearer  emotions, 
by  the  aspect  of  genius  on  its  public  days. 

382.  '"  Being  then  together,'  says  General 
Tuxen,  '  in  company  with  my  wife,  ray  now 
deceased  daughter,  and  three  or  four  young 
ladies,  my  relations,  he  entertained  them 
very  politely  and  with  much  attention  on  in- 
different subjects,  on  favorite  dogs  and  cats 
that  were  in  the  room,  which  caressed  him 
and  jumped  on  his  knee,  showing  their  little 
tricks.  During  these  trifling  discourses,  mixed 
with  singular  questions,  to  all  of  which  he 
obligingly  answered,  whether  they  concerned 
this  or  the  other  world,  I  took  occasion  to  say, 
that  I  was  sorry  I  had  no  better  company  to 
amuse  him  than  a  sickly  wife  and  her  young 
girls ;  he  replied,  •■'  And  is  not  this  very  good 
company  ?  I  was  always  very  partial  to  the 
ladies'  society."  .  .  .  After  some  little 
pause  he  cast  his  eyes  on  a  harpsichord,  and 
asked  whether  we  were  lovers  of  music,  and 
who  played  upon  it.  I  told  him  we  were  all 
lovei;s  of  it,  and  that  my  wife  in  her  j'outh 
had  practised,  as  she  had  a  fine  voice,  perhaps 
better  than  any  in  Denmark,  as  several  per- 
sons of  distinction,  who  had  heard  the  best 
singers  in  France,  England  and  Italy,  had 
assured  her ;  and  that  my  daughter  also  played 
with  pretty  good  taste.  On  this  Swedenborg 
desired  her  to  play.  She  then  performed  a 
difficult  and  celebrated  sonata,  to  which  he  beat 
the  measure  with  his  foot,  on  the  sofa  on 
which  he  sat;  and  when  finished,  he  said, 
*'  bravo  !  very  fine."  She  then  played  anoth- 
er by  Ruttini ;  and  when  she  had  played  a 
few  minutes,  he  said,  "  this  is  by  an  Italian, 
but  the  first  was  not."  This  finished,  he  said, 
"  bravo  !  you  play  very  well.  Do  you  not 
also   sing  ? "      She   answered,   "  I  sing,   but 


have  not  a  very  gocJd  voice,  though  fond  of 
singing,  and  would  sing  if  my  mother  would 
accompany  me."  He  requested  my  wife  to 
join,  to  which  she  assented,  and  they  sang  a 
few  Italian  duettos,  and  some  French  airs, 
each  in  their  respective  taste,  to  which  he 
beat  time,  and  afterwards  paid  many  compli- 
ments to  my  wife,  on  account  of  her  taste  and 
fine  voice,  which  she  had  preserved  notwith- 
standing so  long  an  illness.  I  took  the  liberty 
of  saying  to  him,  that  since  in  his  writings  he 
always  declared,  that  at  all  times  there  were 
good  and  evil  spirits  of  the  other  world  pres-  ■ 
ent  with  every  man;  might  I  then  make  bold 
to  ask,  whether  now,  while  my  wife  and 
daughter  were  singing,  there  had  been  any 
from  the  other  world  present  with  us  ?  To 
this  he  answered,  '♦  Yes,  certainly ;  "  and  on 
my  inquiring  who  they  were,  and  whether  I 
liad  known  them,  he  said  that  it  was  the  Dan- 
ish royal  family,  and  he  mentioned  Christian 
VI.,  Sophia  Magdalena,  and  Frederic  V., 
who  through  his  eyes  and  ears  had  seen  and 
heard  it.  I  do  not  positively  recollect  wheth- 
er he  also  mentioned  the  late  beloved  Queen 
Louisa  among  them.     After  this  he  retired.' 

383.  "  During  this  visit  to  General  Tuxen, 
in  the  course  of  other  conversation,  Tuxen 
produced  the  autobiographical  letter  that  Swe- 
denborg had  written  to  Hartley,  and  which 
begins,  'I  was  born  .  .  in  the  year  1689' 
Swedenborg  told  him  that  he  was  not  born  in 
that  year,  as  mentioned,  but  in  the  preceding. 
Tuxen  asked  him  whether  this  was  an  error 
of  the  press,  but  he  said,  No ;  and  added, 
You  may  remember  in  reading  my  writings 
to  have  seen  it  stated  in  many  parts,  that 
every  cipher  or  number  has  in  the  spiritual 
sen^e  a  certain  correspondence  or  signification. 
'  Now,'  said  he,  '  when  I  put  the  true  year  in 
that  letter,  an  angel  present  told  me  to  write  the 
year  1688,  as  much  more  suitable  to  myself 
than  the  other  ;  "  and  you  observe,"  answered 
the  angel,  "  that  with  us  time  and  space  are 
nothing." ' 

384.  "  We  have  here  a  reason  for  that 
modification  of  events  according  to  a  context, 
of  which  the  Gospel  histories,  so  often  dis- 
crepant from  each  other,  furnish  numerous 
instances.  Thus  five  baskets  full  in  the  one 
evangelist  are  twelve  in  another ;  not  to  men- 
tion other  cases  about  which  unsuccessful 
harmonists  of  the  letter  have  written  at  large. 
Manifestly  it  is  the  plan  of  the  context  which 
regards  the  events  from  its  own  point  of  view, 
and  paints  the  narrative  in  its  own  colors.  It 
is  what  all  historians  do  in  a  lesser  way,  bend- 
ing the  history  to  ideas,  or  shaping  it  with  an 
artistic  force.  Taking  a  certain  larger  block 
of  time  as  a  period  of  birth,  it  is  hieroglyph- 
ically  truthful  fo  play  down  upon  any  date 
contained  in  the  block,  according  to  the  sub- 
ject and  the  signification.  There  are  many 
kinds  of  truth  besides  black  and  white ;  and 
generally,  figurative   truths   require    latitude 


LiFK  AND  v,-i:it:n(js  of  i:m.v\uel  swedenborg. 


97 


of  iilira.'=('.  A'  till'  s:i:nc  time  it  iiiiist  be  oon- 
fessi'd.  that  one  would  I.ke  to  know  wlien  the 
writiii.!>;  is  pure  iiistor}',  and  when  it  is  a  base 
of"  Iiistory,  made  use  of  for  symbolical  pur- 
poses, and  touched  in  part  by  spirit.  Literal 
people  are  apt  to  be  offended  otherwise,  and 
we  sympathize  with  them. 

Our  Opinions  follow  us  into  the  next  Life. 

385.  "  Swedenborg  arrived  at  Amsterdam 
probably  about  the  beginning  of  September, 
carrying  with  him  the  manuscript  of  his  last 
work,  the  True  Christian  Religion.  Jung 
Stilling  supplies  us  with  an  anecdote  of  him 
at  this  period.  An  intimate  friend  of  Stil- 
ling'?, a  merchant  of  J^lberfeld,  had  occasion 
to  take  a  journey  to  Amsterdam,  and  having 
heard  much  of  '  this  strange  individual  ' 
(Swedenborg),  desired  to  become  acquainted 
with  him.  He  called  ujwn  him,  and  found  a 
venerable  friendly  old  man,  who  desired  him  to 
be  seated.  The  Elberfeld  merchant,  Stilling 
says,  was  '  a  strict  mystic  in  the  j)urest  sense. 
He  spoke  little,  but  what  he  said  was  like  gold- 
en fruit  on  a  salver  of  silver.  He  would  not 
have  dared  for  all  the  world  to  tell  an  un- 
truth.' He  explained  to  Swedenborg  that  he 
was  acquainted  with  his  writings,  and  had 
heard  the  relations  of  the  fire  of  Stockholm, 
and  the  affair  of  the  Queen  of  Sweden's 
brother,  but  that  he  wished  for  a  proof  of  a 
similar  kind  for  himself.  Swedenborg  was 
willing  to  gratify  liim.  The  merchant  then 
said,  '  *'  I  had  formerly  a  friend  who  studied' 
divinity  at  Duisburg,  where  he  fell  into  a  con- 
sumption, of  which  he  died.  I  visited  this 
friend  a  short  time  before  his  decease ;  we 
conversed  together  on  an  important  topic; 
could  you  learn  from  him  what  was  the  sub- 
ject of  our  discourse?"  "  We  will  see.  What 
was  the  name  of  your  friend  ? "  The  mer- 
chant told  him  his  name.  "How  long  do  you 
remain  here  ?  "  ••  About  eight  or  ten  days." 
*'  Call  ui)on  me  again  in  a  few  days.  I  will 
see  if  I  can  find  your  friend."  The  merchant 
took  his  leave  and  despatched  his  business. 
Some  days  after,  he  went  again  to  Sweden- 
borg, in  anxious  expectation.  The  old  gen- 
tleman met  him  with  a  smile,  and  said,  ''  I 
have  spoken  with  your  friend ;  the  subject 
of  your  discourse  was,  the  restitution  of  all 
things."  He  then  related  to  the  merchant, 
with  the  greatest  precision,  what  he,  and  what 
his  deceased  friend,  had  maintained.  My 
friend  turned  pale  ;  for  this  proof  was  pow- 
erful and  invincible.  He  inquired  further, 
"  How  fares  it  with  my  friend  ?  Is  he  in  a 
state  of  blessedness  ?  "  Swedenborg  answered, 
"  No,  he  is  not  yet  in  heaven  ;  he  is  still  in 
Hades,  and  torments  himself  continually  witii 
the  idea  of  the  restitution  of  all  things."  This 
answer  caused  my  friend  the  greatest  aston- 
ishment. He  ejaculated,  *'  My  God  !  what,  in 
the  other  world  ?  "  Swedenborg  replied,  "  Cer- 
tainly ;  a  man  takes  with  him  his  favorite  incli- 
13 


nations  and  opinions;  aiul  it  is  \'ery  diflicult  to 
be  divested  of  tliem.  We  ought,  therefore,  to 
lay  them  aside  here."  i\Iy  friend  took  his  leave 
of  this  remarkable  man,  perfectly  convinced, 
and  i-eturned  back  to  Elberfeld.' 

Testimonies  to  spiritual  Intercourse. 

386.  "In  June,  1771,  Swedenborg  pub- 
lished at  Amsterdam  the  True  Christian  Re- 
ligion ;  containing  the  Universal  TJieology  of 
the  New  Church.  He  had  been  employed 
upon  this  large  work  for  at  least  two  years, 
and  when  he  arrived  at  Amsterdam,  he  com- 
menced the  printing  of  it,  always  exhibiting 
an  assiduity  which  surprised  those  with  whom 
he  came  into  contact.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  he  was  now  in  his  84th  year.  We  have 
a  few  particulars  of  his  life  during  this  resi- 
dence in  Holland,  from  David  Paulus  ab  In- 
dagine,,  'a  respectable  and  learned  individu- 
al,' who  cultivated  his  acquaintance,  first  by 
letter,  and  afterwards  personally.  Ab  Inda- 
gine,  '  in  his  open  manner,  could  no^  conceal 
his  astonishment  that  Swedenborg  had  put 
himself  upon  the  titlepage  as  "  Servant  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." '  But  Swedenborg 
replied,  '  I  have  asked,  and  have  not  only  re- 
ceived permission,  but  have  been  ordered  to 
do  so.'  (It  appears  that  it  was  owing  to  Dr. 
Hartley's  remonstrance  with  him  that  he  was 
in  the  first  instance  induced  to  depart  from 
his  course  of  publishing  anonymously,  and  to 
prefix  his  name  to  any  of  his  works.)  Ab 
Indagine  continues,  in  a  letter  to  a  correspond- 
ent (Jan.  26,  1771):  'It  is  wonderful  with 
what  confidence  the  old  gentleman  speaks  of 
the  spiritual  world,  of  the  angels,  and  of  God 
himself.'  .  .  .  'If  I  were  only  to  give  you 
the  substance  of  our  last  conversation,  I  should 
fill  many  pages.  He  spoke  of  naturalists 
(those  who  ascribe  all  things  to  nature),  whom 
he  had  seen  shortly  after  their  death,  and 
amongst  whom  were  even  many  theologians, 
or  such,  at  least,  as  had  made  theology  their 
profession  in  this  life.  He  told  me  things 
which  made  me  shudder,  but  which,  however, 
I  pass  by,  in  order  not  to  be  over  hasty 
in  my  judgment  respecting  him.  I  will  will- 
ingly admit,  that  I  know  not  what  to  make 
of  him  ;  he  is  a  problem  that  I  cannot  solve. 
I  sincerely  wish,  that  upright  men,  whom 
God  has  placed  as  watchmen  upon  the  walls 
of  Zion,  had  some  time  since  occupied  them- 
selves with  this  man. 

387.  "'I  have  often  wondered  at  myself, 
how  I  could  refrain  from  laughing,  when  I 
was  hearing  such  extraordinary  things  from 
him.  And  what  is  more,  I  have  often  heard 
him  relate  the  same  things  in  a  numerous 
company  of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  when  1 
well  knew  that  there  were  mockers  among&t 
them  ;  but,  to  my  great  astonishment,  not  a 
single  person  even  thought  of  laughing.  Whilst 
he  is  speaking,  it  is  as   though  every  person 


98 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


who  hears  him  were  cluvrmed,  and  compelled 
to  believe  him.  He  is  by  no  means  reserved 
and  recluse,  but  open-hearted,  and  accessible 
to  all.  Whoever  invites  him  as  his  guest,  may 
expect  to  see  him.  A  certain  young  gentle- 
man invited  him  last  week  to  be  his  guest, 
and  although  he  was  not  acquainted  with  him, 
he  appeared  at  his  table,  where  he  met  Jew- 
isli  and  Portuguese  gentlemen,  with  whom  he 
freely  conversed,  without  distinction.  Who- 
ever is  curious  to  see  him  has  no  difficulty ;  it 
is  only  necessary  to  go  to  his  house,  and  he 
allows  any  body  to  approach  him.  It  can  easi- 
ly be  conceived,  however,  that  the  numerous 
visits,  to  which  he  is  liable,  deprive  him  of  much 
time.  —  lam,  &c.,        D.  P.  ab  Indagine." 

388.  In  the  same  year,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse 
Darmstadt.  Swedenborg  did  not  answer  it  at 
first,  being  doubtful  of  its  genuineness  ;  but 
his  misgivings  were  set  aside  by  a  visit  from 
M.  Venator,  the  minister  of  that  prince. 

"  In  your  gracious  letter,  you  ask,  how  I  attained 
to  be  in  society  with  angels  and  spirits,  and 
whether  that  privilege  can  be  communicated  from 
one  person  to  another.  Deign,  then,  to  receive 
favorably  this  answer. 

"  The  Lord  our  Savior  had  foretold  that  he 
would  come  again  into  the  world,  and  that  He 
would  establish  there  a  New  Church.  He  has 
given  this  prediction  in  the  Apocalypse  xxi.  and 
xxii.,  and  also  in  several  places  in  the  Evangelists. 
But  as  he  cannot  come  again  into  the  world  in 
person,  it  was  necessary  that  He  should  do  it  by 
means  of  a  man,  who  should  not  only  receive  the 
doctrine  of  this  New  Church  in  his  understanding, 
but  also  publish  it  by  printing ;  and  as  the  Lord 
had  prepared  me  for  this  office  from  my  infancy. 
He  has  manifested  Himself  in  person  before  me, 
His  servant,  and  sent  me  to  fill  it.  This  took 
place  in  the  year  1743.  He  afterwards  opened 
the  sight  of  my  spirit,  and  thus  introduced  me  into 
the  spiritual  world,  and  granted  me  to  see  the 
heavens  and  many  of  their  wonders,  and  also  the 
hells,  and  to  speak  with  angels  and  spirits,  and  this 
continually  for  twenty-seven  years.  I  declare  in  all 
truth  that  such  is  the  fact.  This  favor  of  the  Lord 
in  regard  to  me,  has  only  taken  place  for  the  sake 
of  the  New  Church  which  I  have  mentioned  above, 
the  doctrine  of  which  is  contained  in  my  writings. 
The  gift  of  conversing  with  spirits  and  angels 
cannot  be  transmitted  from  one  person  to  another, 
unless  the  Lord  Himself  opens  the  spiritual  sight 
of  that  person.  It  is  sometimes  permitted  to  a 
spirit  to  enter  into  a  man,  and  to  communicate  to 
him  some  truth ;  but  it  is  not  granted  to  the  man 
to  speak  mouth  to  mouth  witii  the  spirit.  It  is 
even  a  very  dangerous  thing,  because  the  spirit 
enters  into  the  affection  of  man's  self-love,  which 
does  not  agree  with  the  affection  of  heavenly  love. 

"  With  respect  to  the  man  tormented  by  spirits, 
I  have  learned  from  heaven  that  that  has  befallen  him 
in  consequence  of  tiie  meditations  to  which  he  has 
devoted  himself;  but  that,  nevertheless,  there  is  no 
danger  to  be  apprehended  from  them,  because  the 
Lord  protects  him.  The  only  method  of  cure  for 
him  is  to  convert  himself,  and  to  supplicate  the 
Lord  our  Savior  Jesus  Christ  to  succor  him.  —  I 
remain,  with  respect,  &c., 

"  Emanuel  Swedenborg. 

"  Amsterdam,  1771. 


389.  The  Landgrave  again  wrote  to  Swe- 
denborg, inquiring  about  the  "^  miracle  "of  his  in- 
tercourse with  the  Queen  of  Sweden's  brother ; 
to  which  he  replied  :  — 

"As  to  that  which  is  related  of  the  brother  ot 
the  Queen  of  Sweden,  it  is  entirely  true  ;  but  it 
shoidd  not  be  regarded  as  a  miracle  ;  it  is  but  one 
of  those  memorabilin,  of  the  same  kind  as  those 
inserted  in  the  book  just  mentioned,  concerning 
Luther,  Melancthon,  Calvin,  and  others.  All  these 
memorabilia  are  but  testimonies  that  I  have  been 
introduced  by  the  Lord  into  the  spiritual  world,  as 
to  my  spirit,  and  that  I  converse  with  spirits  and 
angels.  It  is  true  also  that  I  have  conversed  with 
a  person  mentioned  in  the  journal  you  cite,  and, 
six  months  ago,  with  the  deceased  Stanislaus, 
king  of  Poland,  in  a  certain  society  where  he  was, 
and  where  it  was  not  known  who  he  was.  He 
made  all  the  happiness  of  his  life  consist  in  re- 
maining thus  unknown  in  these  assemblies,  and  in 
conversing  there  familiarly  with  the  spirits  and 
angels  as  one  of  them.  I  afterwards  saw  him 
transferred  to  a  northern  region,  where  I  learned 
that  he  had  been  called  by  a  society  of  Roman 
Catholics,  over  whom  he  presided.  In  the  same 
way,  I  have  of\en  conversed  with  the  Roman  Pon- 
tiff, who  has  lately  died.  After  his  decease  he  re- 
mained with  me  a  whole  day  ;  but  it  is  not  per- 
mitted me  to  publish  any  thing  respecting  his 
manner  of  living,  or  his  state.  You  may  see,  if 
you  will,  what  I  have  written  in  my  last  work, 
concerning  the  Pontiff  who  reigned  some  thirty  or 
forty  years  ago.  Treat  favorably,  I  pray  you, 
whatever  has  relation  to  the  honor  of  God.  —  I 
am,  with  respect,  &c., 

"  Emanuel  Swedenborg. 

"  Amsterdam,  July  15,  1771." 

390.  In  another  letter  to  M.  Venator,  Swe- 
denborg states  that  such  matters  are  not  to  be 
regarded  as  miracles,  but  only  testimonies  as 
above. 

"  In  order  that  the  church,  which  until  now  had 
remained  in  ignorance  of  that  world,  may  know 
that  heaven  and  hell  exist  in  reality,  and  that  man 
lives  after  death,  a  man,  as  before  ;  and  that  thus 
there  might  be  no  more  doubt  as  to  his  im- 
mortality. You  may  see,  in  the  True  Christian 
Religion,  that  there  are  no  more  miracles,  at  this 
time  ;  and  the  reason  why.  It  is  that  they,  who 
do  not  believe  because  they  see  no  miracles,  might 
easily,  by  them,  be  led  into  fanaticism." 

True  Christian  Religion. 

391.  "  The  True  Christian  Religion,  (making 
815  close  pages  in  the  eighth  English  edition,) 
contains  the  author's  '  body  of  divinity.'  The 
whole  of  his  theological  works,  hermeneutical, 
visional,  philosophical,  dogmatic,  and  moral, 
are  summed  up  and  represented  in  this  delib- 
erate system.  There  is  none  of  his  treatises 
so  plain,  or  so  well  brought  home  to  appre- 
hension ;  none  in  which  the  yield  of  doctrine 
is  so  turned  into  daily  bread,  the  food  of  prac- 
tical religion.  Viewed  as  a  digest,  it  shows  a 
presence  of  miad.  an  administration  of  mate- 
rials, and  a  faculty  of  handling,  of  an  extraor- 
dinary kind.  There  is  old  age  in  it,  in  the 
sense  of  ripeness.  If  the  intellectualist  misses 
there  somewhat  of  the  range  of  discourse,  it 


LITE   AND    WRITINGS   0¥   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


99 


is  compensated  by  a  certain  triteness  of  wis- 
dom. As  a  polemic,  not  only  against  the 
errrors  of  the  churches,  but  against  the  evil 
lives  and  self-excusings  of  Christians,  the 
work  is  unrivalled.  The  criticisms  of  doctrine 
with  which  it  abounds,  are  masterly  in  the 
extreme;  and,  were  it  compared  with  any 
similar  body  of  theology,  we  feel  no  doubt 
that  the  palm  of  coherency,  vigor,  and  compre- 
hensiveness, would  easily  fall  to  Swedenborg, 
upon  the  verdict  o^ judges  of  whatever  church. 

392.  "  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  enter  at 
large  upon  its  contents,  as  we  have  dwelt  u\inn 
them  already  in  reviewing  the  author's  pre- 
vious writings.  The  following  summary,  how- 
ever, of  the  chapters,  will  show  the  scope  of 
the  work.  I.  God  the  Creator.  II.  The 
Lord  the  Redeemer.  III.  The  Holy  Spirit 
and  ihe  divine  operation.  IV.  The  Holy 
Scripture,  or  the  Word  of  the  Lord.  V.  The 
Ten  Commandments,  in  their  external  and  in- 
ternal senses.  VI.  Faith.  VII.  Charity,  or 
love  towards  our  neighbor  and  good  works. 
VIII.  Free  determination.  IX.  Repentance. 
X.  Reformation  and  Regeneration.  XL  Im- 
putation. XII.  Baptism.  XIH.  Tiie  Holy 
Supper.  XIV.  The  Consummation  of  the 
Age,  the  Coming  of  the  Lord,  and  the  New 
Heaven  and  the  New  Church.  Besides  these 
subjects,  the  work  contains  no  less  than  76 
Memorable  Relations  from  the  spiritual  world, 
interspersed  between  and  among  the  chapters  ; 
for  Swedenborg  always  addresses  the  reader 
as  already  a  member  of  two  worlds. 

393.  "  Some  time  before  his  last  publication. 
Dr.  Ernesti  attacked  him  in  his  Bibliotheca 
Theologica  (p.  784),  and  before  he  left  Hol- 
land, Swedenborg  issued  a  single  leaf  in  reply 
to  his  opponent.  It  is  a  short  deprecation  of 
controversy  characteristic  of  the  peaceful  and 
busy  old  man.  '  I  have  read,'  says  he, '  what 
Dr.  Ernesti  has  written  about  me.  It  consists 
of  mere  personalities.  I  do  not  observe  in  it 
a  grain  of  reason  against  any  thing  in  my 
writings.  As  it  is  against  the  laws  of  honesty 
to  assail  any  one  with  such  poisoned  weapons, 
I  think  it  beneath  me  to  bandy  words  with 
that  illustrious  man.  I  will  not  cast  back 
calumnies  by  calumnies.  To  do  this,  I  should 
be  even  with  the  dogs,  which  bark  and  bite, 
or  with  the  lowest  drabs,  which  throw  street 
mud  in  each  other's  faces  in  their  brawls. 
Read  if  you  will  .  .  .  what  I  have  writ- 
ten in  my  books,  and  afterwards  conclude,  but 
from  reason,  respecting  my  revelation.'  Se- 
vere words,  these,  if  not  controversial ! 

Mental  Peculiarities.    Last  Sickness. 

394.  "  Our  enumeration  of  Swedenborg's 
theological  publications  is  now  ended.  Un- 
apparent  as  his  person  is  throughout  them,  we 
feel  that  it  is  almost  profane  to  dwell  upon  his 
genius.  In  reading  them  we  rather  think  of 
a  gifted  pen  than  of  a  great  man.  Originality 
and   competitive  questions  are  far  in  the  back- 


ground. The  words  mine  and  thine  have  not 
laid  their  paws  upon  these  estates.  Still  the 
genius  reverts  the  mightier  for  its  unsellish- 
ness.  The  method  of  thought  is  the  same  in 
his  theology  as  in  his  philosophy ;  his  theolo- 
gy is  his  latest  philosophy  explaining  his 
walks  and  experiences  in  the  spiritual  world. 
The  active  mental  power  is  greater  in  his  lat- 
ter than  in  his  former  life;  and  would  be 
more  manifestly  so,  had  he  not  always  practi- 
eally  disclaimed  his  own  gifts  in  favor  of  the 
Giver  ;  a  course  that  offends  '  the  pride  of 
self-derived  intelligence,'  which  misses  the 
brilliancy  of  its  earthly  fire  in  hi?  low  speech 
and  self-absent  periods.  But  assuredly  his 
knowledge  of  man  is  more  exceeding  than  his 
knowledge  of  nature ;  his  plainness  is  more 
picturesque  than  his  imagination ;  and  his 
spiritual  cosmogony  and  humanity  will  sur- 
vive the  ingenuity  of  his  Principia^  and  the 
natural  beauty  of  liis  Physiology. 

395.  "  In  Part  I.  of  his  biography,  we  have 
devoted  a  few  words  to  the  author's  philoso- 
phical style  ;  we  shall  now  say  somewhat  on 
his  theological.  In  the  former  case,  we  noted 
with  surprise  that  the  dress  of  his  books  be- 
came more  and  more  imaginative,  as  his  mind 
matured.  The  ornament,  it  is  true,  was  a 
part  of  the  subject,  as  a  flower  is  a  part  of  a 
plant.  In  his  theological  works,  he  discarded 
this  vesture,  and  began  not  from  the  flower, 
but  from  the  seeds  of  his  philosophy.  The 
diflference  between  The  Worship  and  Love  of 
God  and  the  Arcana  Ccelestia,  is  immense  in 
point  of  style ;  the  rhetoric  of  the  former  is 
shorn  into  level  speech  in  the  latter.  But  it  is 
a  second  time  to  be  observed,  that  his  mind 
took  the  course  from  plainness  to  luxuriance, 
and  that  in  his  later  theology,  copious  illus- 
tration gave  fruitiness  to  his  style.  Orna- 
mental it  cannot  be  called,  but  full  and  abound- 
ing. Instead  of  the  beauties  of  color,  he  prof- 
fers gratifications  for  many  senses,  in  solid 
paragraphs  of  analogies.  If  his  old  age  is 
specially  discernible  in  his  True  Christian  Re- 
ligion, it  is  in  the  wealth  of  the  comparisons, 
which  succeed  each  other  with  childlike  volu- 
bility, though  it  must  be  confessed  also  with 
felicity.  The  child  learns  by  comparisoii  ;  tii.' 
adult,  more  alive  to  intellectual  beauty,  deck- 
his  mind  in  colored  garments,  and  sets  foitii 
his  theory  as  a  captivation  ;  the  elder  teache.-. 
as  the  child  learns,  by  comparisons  again. 
There  is  nothing  like  them  for  power  ;  t!i<'  v 
cleave  to  the  mind  in  its  youngest  and  <ti,l 
joyous  parts;  and  are  to  abstractions  wii;.; 
gold  coin  is  to  doubtful  promises  in  air 
or  upon  paper.  By  them  the  good  old  men 
prattle  to  the  young,  who  are  the  seed  of  tli'- 
state,  and  the  inheritors  of  the  future,  li 
was  Swedenborg's  last  and  most  loving  mode 
of  speech,  to  familiarize  difficult  things  by  tell- 
ing us  what  their  case  is  most  like  in  the 
world  about  us :  a  method  which  he  followed 
particularly  in  the  True  Christian  Religion. 


100 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDEJIBORG. 


396.  "'There  are  five  kinds  of  reception,' 
says  Swedenborg,  {Diary,  n.  2955,)  speaking 
of  the  reception  of  his  own  writings  by  the 
world.  '  First,  there  are  those  who  reject 
them  utterly,  either  because  they  are  in  a  dif- 
ferent persuasion,  or  are  enemies  of  the  faith : 
they  cannot  be  received  by  these,  whose  minds 
are  impenetrable.  The  second  genus  receives 
them  as  scientifics,  and  in  this  point  of  view, 
^nd  as  curiosities,  they  are  delighted  with 
them.  The  third  genus  receives  them  intel- 
lectually, and  with  readiness,  but  their  lives 
remain  unaltered  by  them.  The  fourth  re- 
ceives them  persuasively,  allowing  them  to 
penetrate  to  amendment  of  life  ;  to  this  class 
they  occur  in  certain  states,  and  do  good  ser- 
vice. The  Jifth  genus  consists  of  those  who 
receive  them  with  joy,  and  are  built  up  in  them. 

397.  "In  August,  1771,  Swedenborg  came 
from  Amsterdam  to  London,  and  took  up  liis 
abode  for  the  second  time  with  one  Shear- 
smith,  peruke  maker,  at  26,  Great  Bath 
Street,  Coldbath  Fields.  Notwithstanding  his 
advanced  age,  he  still  continued  indefatigable 
with  his  pen,  and,  after  finishing  his  True 
Christian  Religion,  he  proceeded  to  the  execu- 
tion of  another  work,  a  supplement  to  the  for- 
mer, treating  in  detail  of  the  various  churches 
which  have  existed  upon  the  earth.  This  trea- 
tise he  either  did  not  complete,  or  the  end  of  it 
is  missing.  He  now  renewed  his  intercourse 
with  his  friends  in  London,  who  have  handed 
down  some  interesting  accounts  of  the  closing 
scenes  of  his  life. 

398.  "  Towards  the  end  of  the  year,  Dr. 
Hartley  and  Mr.  Cookworthy  visited  him  at 
his  lodgings  in  Clerkenwell.  The  details  of 
the  interview  are  not  given,  only  that  it  was 
impossible  to  avoid  noticing  his  innocence  and 
simplicity,  and  how,  on  inviting  him  to  dine 
with  them,  he  politely  excused  himself,  adding 
that  his  dinner  was  already  prepared,  which 
2)roved  to  be  a  meal  of  bread  and  milk. 

399.  "  On  Christmas  eve  a  stroke  of  apo- 
plexy deprived  him  of  his  speech,  and  he  lay 
afterwards  in  a  lethargic  state  for  more  than 
three  weeks,  taking  no  sustenance  beyond  a 
little  tea  without  milk,  and  cold  water  occa- 
sionally, and  once  a  little  currant  jelly.  At 
the  end  cS"  that  time  he  recovered  his  speech 
and  health  somewhat,  and  ate  and  drank  as 
usual.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  had  any 
medical  advice  in  his  sickness.  Dr.  Hartley 
now  again  visited  him,  in  company  with  Dr. 
Messiter,  and  asked  him  if  he  was  comforted 
with  the  society  of  angels  as  belbre,  and  he 
answered  that  he  was.  Furthermore,  they 
besought  him  to  declare  whether  all  that  he 
had  written  was  strictly  true,  or  whether  any 
part,  or  parts,  were  to  be  excepted.  '  I  have 
wiitten,'  answered  Swedenborg,  with  a  degree 
of  warmth,  '  nothing  but  the  truth,  as  you 
will  have  more  and  more  confirmed  to  you  all 
the  days  of  your  life,  provided  you  keep  close 
to  the  Lord,  and  faithfully  serve  him   alone, 


by  shunning  evils  of  all  kinds  as  sins  against 
him,  and  diligently  searching  his  "Word, 
which  from  beginning  to  end  bears  incontes- 
table witness  to  the  truth  of  the  doctrines 
I  have  delivered  to  the  world.'  Dr.  H.  after 
this  returned  home,  about  a  day's  journey 
from  London,  (to  East  Mailing,  in  Kent,)  and 
heard  soon  after  that  Swedenborg  was  near 
his  departure,  and  expressed  a  desire  to  see 
him  ;  '  but  some  hinderances  to  the  visit,'  says 
he,  '  happening  at  the  time,  I  did  not  embrace 
the  opportunity  as  I  should  have  done  ;  for 
those  hinderances  might  have  been  surmount- 
ed. My  neglect  on  this  occasion  appears  to 
me  without  excuse,  and  lies  very  heavy  on 
my  mind  to  this  day.' 

His  Connection  with  Rev.  John  Wesley. 

400.  "  From  the  time  of  his  seizure  till  his 
death  he  was  visited  but  by  few  friends,  and 
always  appeared  unwilling  to  see  company. 
Nevertheless  we  meet  with  him  once  again  in 
a  semi-public  character.  Towards  the  end 
of  February,  1772,  the  Rev.  John  Wesley  is 
in  conclave  with  some  of  his  preachers,  who 
are  taking  instructions,  and  assisting 'him  in 
preparations  for  a  circuit  he  is  shortly  to 
make,  when  a  Latin  note  is  put  into  his  hand, 
which  causes  him  evident  astonishment.  The 
substance  is  as  follows  :  — 

'Great  Bath  Street,  Coldbath  Fields, 

February,  1772. 

'  Sir,  —  I  have   been  informed  in  the  world  of 

spirits  that  you  have  a  strong  desire  to  converse 

with  me.     I  shall  be  happy  to  see  you  if  you  will 

favor  me  with  a  visit. 

'  I  am,  Sir,  your  humble  servant, 

'  Emanuel  Swedenborg.' 

Wesley  frankly  acknowledged  to  the  com- 
pany that  he  had  been  strongly  impressed  with 
a  desire  to  see  and  converse  with  Swedenborg, 
and  said  that  he  had  not  mentioned  the  desire 
to  any  one.  He  wrote  for  answer  that  he 
was  then  occupied  in  preparing  for  a  six 
mcAiths'  journey,  but  would  wait  upon  Sweden- 
borg on  his  return  to  London.  Swedenborg 
wrote  in  reply  that  the  proposed  visit  would 
be  too  late,  as  he,  Swedenborg,  should  go  into 
the  world  of  spirits  on  the  29th  day  of  the 
next  month,  nevermore  to  return.  The  re- 
sult was,  that  these  two  celebrated  persons 
did  not  meet."  *  —  Wilkinson' s  Biography, 
pp.  206-212. 

*  It  is  certain  tliat  Wesley  was  at  this  time  attracted  to  Swe- 
denborg. Hesides  otlier  proofs,  we  liave  one  in  a  letter  written 
to  Wesley  l)y  the  Rev.  Francis  Okely,  a  .Moravian  minister. 
This  gentleman  visited  Swedeubora,  probably  between  August 
and  December,  1771,  and  wrote  to  Wesley  upon  the  interview 
His  letter,  l^^rminian  Magazine,  vol.  viii.,  p.  553,  1785,)  dated 
Upton,  Dec.  10,  1771,  is  somewhat  interesting. 

"  Swedenborg  is  to  me  a  riddle,  —  certiiinly,  as  you  [Wesley] 
say,  he  speaks  many  great  and  important  truths  :  and  as  certain- 
ly seems  to  me  to  contradict  Scripture  in  other  places.  But,  as 
he  told  me,  I  could  not  understand  his  True  Christian  Religion 
without  divine  illumination  ;  and  I  am  obliged  to  confess,  that  1 
have  not  yet  a  sufficiency  of  it  for  that  purpose.  I  am  thankful 
my  present  course  does  not  seem  absolutely  to  require  it.  We 
conversed  in  the  high  Dutch,  and  notwithstanding  the  impedi- 
ment in  his  speech,  I  understood  him  well.  He  spike  with  all 
the  coolness  and  deliberation  you  might  expect  from  any,  the 
most  sober  and  rational  man.    Yet  what  he  said  was  out  of  my 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


101 


It  appears  certain  that  Mr.  Wesley  was 
very  much  impressed  with  the  truth  of  >Swe- 
(lenborg's  writings,  for  it  is  stated  on  the 
authority  of  Rev.  Mr.  Clowes,  rector  of  St. 
John's,  Manchester,  tliat  in  a  conversation 
which  Wesley  had  with  a  mutual  and  intimate 
friend  of  theirs,  Mr.  Richard  Houghton.  Esq., 
of  Liverpool,  and  whicli  was  reported  to  Mr. 
Clowes  by  Mr.  Houghton,  that  Wesley  ex- 
pressed himself  as  follows :  "  We  may  now 
bum  all  our  hooks  of  Theology.  God  has  sent 
us  a  teacher  from  heaven ;  and  in  the  doctrines 
of  Swedenborg,  we  may  learn  all  thai  it  is 
necessary  for  us  to  know." 

401.  ''  The  manner  (says  Rev.  Mr.  Noble, 
in  the  letter  from  which  the  above  is  extracted) 
in  which  Mr.  Wesley  here  expressed  himself, 
was  strong  indeed  ;  so  much  so,  that  were  it 
not  certain  that  his  mind  must  have  been  at 
that  time  under  a  very  powerful  influence  in 
Swedenborg's  favor,  he  might  be  suspected  to 
have  spoken  ironically.  This  I  observed  in 
my  letter  to  Mr.  Clowes  ;  to  which  he  replies, 
*  I  can  hardly  conceive,  from  the  manner  in 
which  it  was  expressed  by  Mr.  Houghton,  that 
irony  had  any  thing  to  do  with  it : '  and  Mr. 
Houghton  must  have  known  with  certainty 
whether  it  had  or  not.  His  repeating  Mr. 
Wesley's  observation  to  Mr.  Clowes,  as  an 
inducement  to  him  to  peruse  the  writings  of 
Swedenborg,  is  a  complete  proof  that  Mr.  H. 
believed  it  to  mean  what  it  expresses.  But 
an  examination  of  dates  will  show,  that  Mr. 
Wesley's  statement  to  that  gentleman  was 
made  while  the  impression  from  Swedenborg's 
supernatural  communication  was  acting  in  all 
its  force. 


spliere  of  intelligence,  when  he  related  his  sight  of,  and  daily  con- 
versation in,  the  world  of  .-pirits,  with  which  he  declared  him- 
self hetter  acquainted  than  with  this. 

"  1  heartily  wish  that  all  the  real  designs  which  an  omnipotent 
and  omniscient  God  of  Love  might  have,  either  by  him,  or  by 
any  oUier  of  his  sincere  servants,  of  whatsoever  sort  or  kind, 
may  be  truly  obtained.  ...  I  thought  proper  to  express  thus 
much  in  answer  to  yours,  [the  italics  are  our  own,]  without  de- 
siring you  to  adopt  any  of  my  sentiments.'" 

It  is  amusing  to  rend  what  Okely  says  of  his  difficulty  about 
Swedenborg's  sight  and  conversation  in  the  spiritual  world. 
What  artificial  stupidity  !  A  rustic  would  have  taken  it  at  once. 
We  here  recall  a  little  narrative  in  Swedcnhorg's  Diary  {n.  5997). 
Hf  bad  been  writing  upon  the  Apocalypse,  and  had  treated  of 
the  threefold  man,  celestial,  spiritual,  and  natural,  and  of  goods 
and  truths  in  their  series,  and  comiirg  to  an  inn  with  his  mind 
on  the  subject,  he  opened  it  to  the  good  wife  who  was  the  land- 
lady, Tisula  Bodama  her  name.  "  She  was  a  person  of  simple- 
"  hearted  failh.  She  understood  clearly  all  I  said  ;  but  there  was 
a  learned  man  present  who  did  not  understand  it,  nay,  couhl  not 
understand  it.  And  so  the  case  is  with  many  ottier  things." 
The  Lord  has  hidden  them  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  re- 
vealed theui  unto  babes. 

While  speaking  of  Okely,  who  was  the  author  of  a  Life  of 
Behmen,  we  take  the  opportunity  of  slating,  that  too  close  a  par- 
allel is  often  made  between  Behmen  and  Swedenborg.  There 
are  indeed  truths  common  to  both,  and  no  man  who  values  an 
e.xtraordinarj'  brother  would  say  a  word  in  disparagement  of 
deep-thouglited  Jacob  Behmen.  But  his  want  of  education  and 
utterance  ;  his  identification  of  the  spiritual  with  the  subjective 
for  man  upon  earth  ;  his  failure  of  scer>hip,  and  consequently  of 
real  experience  ;  and  above  all,  his  inapprchension  of  the  sole 
divinity  of  Christ,  which  scattered  through  his  theology  the 
darkness  inevitable  upon  an  attempted  approach  to  the  thiis  un- 
approachable Father  — a  darkness  the  more  virulent  as  the  ge- 
nius is  more  intense  ;  — these  great  vacancies,  and  a  host  of 
other  thmga,  such  as  his  doctrine  of  the  bi-sexual  Adam,  estab- 
lish between  him  and  Swedenborg  a  gulf  not  to  be  overpassed. 
Swedenborg  had  indeed  never  read  Ills  works,  as  he  told  Dr. 
Beyer  in  answer  to  a  question  upon  the  subject,  and  it  is  impos- 
eible  to  affiliate  his  own  works  in  anv  sense  u|>on  Behmen's. 
The  admirers  of  Behmen  are  aware  of  this,  and  .Mr.  Law  has 
•hoH'ii  it  by  violent  stamping  against  Swedenborg. 


402.  "Yet  Mr.  We.-ley.  thus*  miraculously 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  Swedenborg's  claim 
(as  far,  at  least,  as  relates  to  his  intwcourse 
with  the  spiritual  world),  afterwards  exerted 
himself  to  check  the  extension  of  the  same 
conviction  to  others  !  —  in  whicli,  however,  he 
only  atifordcd  a  })roof  of  Swedenborg's  con- 
stant assertion,  that  miraculous  evidence  is 
inetlicacious  for  producing  any  real  or  perma- 
nent change  in  a  man's  conlirmed  religious 
sentiments. 

403.  "  I  have  little  doubt  (concludes  Mr. 
Noble)  that,  though  some  erroneous  sentiments 
conlirmed  in  his  understanding  prevented  him 
from  accepting,  in  this  world,  the  doctrines  of 
the  New  Church,  his  intentions  were  upright, 
and  there  was  a  principle  of  real  good  in  his 
heart,  which,  in  the  other  life  would  throw  off 
the  errors  that  obscured  it,  and  enable  him  to 
receive  the  truth.  This,  it  is  probable,  was 
seen  by  Swedenborg,  and  was  the  reason  of 
his  inviting  him  to  an  interview  :  and  thus,  I 
trust,  though  Mr.  Wesley  acted  chiefly  as  an 
opponent  to  him  while  on  earth,  he  may  now 
be  associated  with  him  in  heaven."  —  Docu- 
ments^ pp.  108-110. 

Close  of  his  Earthly  Life. 

404.  Two  or  three  weeks  before  Sweden- 
borg's decease,  he  was  visited  by  his  old  friend, 
Mr.  Springer,  the  Swedish  Consul  in  London. 
Mr.  S.  asked  him  when  he  believed  the  New 
Jerusalem  would  be  manifested,  and  if  the 
manifestation  would  take  place  in  the  four 
quarters  of  the  world.  His  answer  was,  that 
"  no  mortal  could  tell  the  time,  no,  nor  even 
the  highest  angels,  but  God  only.  Read," 
said  he,  "■  the  Revelation  (xxi.  2)  and  Zecha- 
riah  (xiv.  9),  and  you  will  find,  past  doubt, 
that  the  New  Jerusalem  of  the  Apocalypse, 
which  denotes  a  new  and  purer  state  of  the 
Christian  church,  will  manifest  itself  to  all  the 
earth." 

405.  "  Mr.  Bei'gstrora,  the  Landlord  of  the 
King's  Arms  tavern  in  Wellclose  Square,  at 
whose  house  he  had  once  lodged  for  ten  weeks, 
called  to  see  him  during  his  last  days.  Mr. 
B.  asked  him  whether  he  would  take  the  Sac- 
rament? Somebody  present  at  the<  time  pro- 
posed sending  for  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mathesius, 
the  officiating  minister  of  the  Swedish  church. 
Swedenborg  declined  taking  the  Sacrament 
from  this  gentleman,  who  had  previously  set 
abroad  a  report  that  he  was  out  of  his  senses  : 
and  he  sent  for  the  Rev.  Arvid  Ferelius, 
another  Swedish  clergyman  with  whom  he 
was  on  the  best  terms,  and  who  had  visited 
him  frequently  in  his  illness.  Ferelius  soou 
returned  with  Bergstrom  to  Swedenborg's  bed- 
side. On  every  previous  visit  Ferelius  had 
asked  him  whetiier  or  no  he  was  about  to  die, 
to  which  he  always  answered  in  the  affirmative. 
On  this  occasion  the  priest  observed  to  him, 
'  that  as  many  persons  thought  that  he  had 
endeavored  only  to  make  himself  a  name  by 


102 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS   OF    EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


his  n ?w  theological  system  (which  object  he 
had  indeed  attained),  he  would  do  well  now 
to  publish  tlie  truth  to  the  world,  and  to  recant 
either  the  whole  or  a  part  of  what  he  had 
advanced,  since  he  had  now  nothing  more  to 
expect  from  the  world,  which  he  was  so  soon 
about  to  leave  forever.'  Upon  hearing  these 
words,  Swedenborg  raised  himself  half  upright 
in  bed,  and  placing  his  sound  hand  upon  his 
breast,  said  with  great  zeal  and  emphasis : 
'  As  true  as  you  see  me  before  you,  so  true  is 
every  thing  that  I  have  written.  I  could  have 
said  more  had  I  been  permitted.  When  you 
come  into  eternity,  you  will  see  all  things  as 
I  have  stated  and  described  them,  and  we 
shall  have  much  to  discourse  about  them  with 
each  other.'  Ferelius  then  asked  whether  he 
would  take  the  Lord's  Holy  Supper  ?  He 
replied  with  thankfulness,  that  the  offer  was 
well  meant ;  but  that  being  a  member  of  the 
other  world,  he  did  not  need  it.  He  would, 
however,  gladly  take  it,  in  order  to  show  the 
connection  and  union  between  the  church  in 
heaven  and  the  church  on  earth.  He  then 
asked  the  priest  if  he  had  read  his  views  on 
the  Sacrament?  He  also  told  him  to  conse- 
crate the  elements,  and  leave  the  rest  of  the 
form  to  him,  as  he  well  knew  what  it  was  and 
meant.  Before  administering  the  Sacrament, 
Fei'elius  inquired  of  him  whether  he  con- 
fessed himself  to  be  a  sinner  ?  '  Certainly,' 
said  he,  'so  long  as  I  carry  about  with  me 
this  sinful  body.'  With  deep  and  affecting 
devotion,  with  folded  hands  and  with  head  un- 
covered, he  confessed  his  own  unworthiness, 
and  received  the  Holy  Supper.  After  which, 
he  said  that  all  had  been  properly  done,  and 
presented  the  minister  in  gratitude  Avith  one 
of  the  few  remaining  copies  of  his  great  work, 
the  Arcana  Ccelestia.  He  was  quite  clear  in 
his  mind  throughout  the  ceremony.  This  was 
two  or  three  weeks  before  his  death. 

40G.  "  He  had  told  the  people  of  the  house 
what  day  he  should  die,  and  as  Shearsmith's 
servant  maid  reported:  '  He  was  as  pleased! ' 
And  she  made  a  comparison  that  the  pleasure 
was  such  as  if  she  herself  were  going  to  have 
a  holiday,  to  go  to  some  merrymaking.  In 
Sandel's  more  accomplished  but  not  deeper 
language  :  '  He  was  satisfied  with  his  sojourn 
upon  earth,  and  delighted  with  the  prospect 
of  his  heavenly  metamorphosis.'  "  —  Wilkin- 
son's Biography,  pp.  214,  215. 

407.  "  The  only  particulars  relative  to  the 
close  of  Swedenborg's  natural  life,  on  which 
we  can  rely,  are  to  be  found  in  an  affidavit, 
made  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sliearsmith,  with  whom 
Swedenborg  boarded  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
It  is  as  follows  : 

"  '  Affidavit  taken  before  the  Right  Hon.  Thom- 
as Wright,  then  Lord  Mayor  of  the  city  of  London, 
the  24th  November,  1784,  viz.:  That  towards 
Christmas,  1771,  Mr.  Swedenborg  had  a  stroke  of 
the  palsy,  which  deprived  him  of  his  speech,  which 
he  soon  rrcovered,  but   yet  remained  very  weak 


and  infirm.  That  towards  the  end  of  February, 
1775,  he  declared  to  Elizabeth  Shearsmith  (then 
Reynolds)  and  to  Richard  Shearsmith's  first  wife 
(then  living)  that  he  should  die  on  such  a  day  ;  and 
that  the  said  Elizabeth  Shearsmith  thinks  she  can 
safely  affirm  on  her  oath  he  departed  this  life  ex- 
actly on  the  very  day  he  had  foretold,  that  is,  one 
month  after  his  prediction.  That  about  a  fortnight 
before  his  death  he  received  the  Lord's  Supper  from 
the  hands  of  Mr.  Ferelius,  a  Swedish  minister,  to 
whom  he  earnestly  recommended  to  abide  in  the 
truth  contained  in  his  writings.  That  a  little  while 
before  Mr.  Swedenborg's  decease  he  was  deprived 
of  his  spiritual  sight,  on  which  account  being 
brought  into  very  great  tribulation,  he  vehemently 
cried  out,  O  imj  God,  hast  thou  then  wholly  forsaken 
thy  servant  at  last  ?  But  a  few  days  after  he  recov- 
ered again  his  spiritual  sight,  which  circumstance 
appeared  to  make  him  completely  happy ;  that  this 
was  the  last  of  his  trials.  That  during  his  latter 
days,  even  as  on  the  former,  he  retained  all  his 
good  sense  and  memory  in  the  most  complete  man- 
ner. That  on  the  Lord's  day,  29th  March,  hear- 
ing the  clock  strike,  Mr.  Swedenborg  asked  his 
landlady  and  her  maid,  who  were  then  both  sit- 
ting by  his  bedside,  what  it  was  o'clock,  and  on 
being  answered  it  was  .5  o'clock,  he  replied,  it  is 
well,  I  thank  you,  God  bless  you  both,  and  then  a 
little  moment  after  he  gently  gave  up  the  ghost. 
Moreover,  that  on  the  day  before  and  on  that  of 
his  departure,  Mr.  Swedenborg  received  no  visits 
of  any  friend  whatever,  and  these  deponents  never 
heard  him  either  then  or  before  utter  any  thing 
that  had  the  least  appearance  of,  or  relation  to,  a 
recantation. 

'Richard  Shearsmith. 

'  Elizabeth  Shearsmith. 
'  Sworn  25th  Nov.,  1785,  before  me,  Thomas 
Wright,  Mayor.' " 

408.  "  After  Swedenborg's  decease,  his  body 
was  carried  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Burkhardt, 
an  undertaker,  and  former  clerk  to  the  Swe- 
dish church  in  London,  where  he  was  laid  in 
state,  and  buried  from  thence  on  the  5th  day 
of  April,  in  three  coffins,  in  the  vault  of  the 
above  church,  in  Prince's  Square,  RadclifFe 
Highway,  with  all  the  ceremonies  of  the  Lu- 
theran religion  ;  the  service  being  performed 
on  the  occasion  by  the  Rev.  Arvid  Ferelius  — 
the  last  service  wdiich  he  performed  in  Eng- 
land. In  1785,  Swedenborg's  coffin  was  side 
by  side  with  Dr.  Solanders.  To  this  day  not 
a  stone  or  an  inscription  commemorates  the 
dust  of  the  wonderful  Norseman. 

409.  "  During  the  later  career  of  Sweden- 
borg, his  country  had  looked  on,  not  without 
interest,  directed  both  to  his  character,  his 
pretensions  and  his  labors.  No  sooner  was 
he  dead,  than  the  House  of  Clergy,  through 
their  President,  requested  Ferelius  to  give 
such  an  account  of  him  in  writing  as  his  ex- 
perience would  warrant,  which  he  did,  but  the 
document  is  unfortunately  missing.  On  Octo- 
ber 7,  1772,  M.  Sandel,  Counsellor  of  the 
Board  of  IMines,  pronounced  his  eulogium  in 
the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Nobles,  in  the  name 
of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Stock- 
holm. Sandel  was  no  follower  of  his,  but  his 
discourse,  take  it  for  all  and  all,  is  the  finest 


LIFE   AND   WHITINGS   OF  EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


103 


resumption  that  we  have  of  the  name  and 
character  of  Swedenburg.  We  give  the  open- 
ing of  the  document  to  show  what  a  scientific 
man  in  sucli  an  Assembly  dared  say  of  Swe- 
denborg,  notwithstanding  his  spirit-seeing. 

" '  Permit  me,'  says  he,  '  to  entertain  you  this 
day  upon  a  subject,  which  is  not  of  an  abstracted 
or  remote  nature,  but  is  intended  to  revive  the 
agreeable  remembrance  of  a  man  celebrated  for 
his  virtues  and  his  knowledge,  one  of  the  oldest 
members  of  this  Academy,  and  one  whom  we  all 
knew  and  loved. 

"'  The  sentiments  of  esteem  and  friendship  with 
which  we  all  regarded  the  late  M.  Emanuel  Swe- 
denborg,  assure  me  of  the  pleasure  with  which 
you  will  listen  to  me  while  he  is  the  subject  of  my 
discourse;  happy  should  I  be  could  I  answer  your 
expectations,  and  draw  his  culogium  in  the  manner 
it  deserves  !  But  if  there  are  some  countenances 
of  which,  as  the  painters  assure  us,  it  is  extremely 
difficult  to  give  an  exact  likeness,  how  difficult 
then  must  it  be  to  delineate  that  of  a  vast  and  sub- 
lime genius,  who  never  knew  either  repose  or 
fatigue ;  who  occupied  with  sciences  the  most 
profound,  was  long  engaged  with  researches  into 
the  secrets  of  nature,  and  who,  in  his  hitter  years, 
applied  all  his  efforts  to  unveil  the  greatest  mys- 
teries ;  who  to  arrive  at  certain  branches  of  knowl- 
edge, opened  for  himself  a  way  of  his  own,  without 
ever  straying  from  sound  morals  and  true  piety  ; 
who  being  endowed  with  a  strength  of  faculties 
truly  extraordinary,  in  the  decline  of  his  age, 
boldly  elevated  his  thoughts  still  further,  and 
soared  to  the  greatest  heights  to  which  the  intel- 
lectual faculty  can  rise  ;  and  who,  tinally,  has 
given  occasion  to  form  respecting  him  a  multitude 
of  opinions,  differing  as  much  from  each  other  as 
do  the  minds  of  the  different  men  by  whom  they 
are  formed ! ' 

410.  "  When  a  life  is  past,  we  speak  with 
right  of  the  health  and  happiness  of  the  de- 
parted. On  these  points  a  few  words  express 
what  is  known  of  Swedenborg.  '  He  always,' 
says  Sandel,  '  enjoyed  most  excellent  health, 
having  scarcely  ever  experienced  the  slightest 
indisposition.'  '  He  was  never  ill,'  says  Rob- 
sahra,  '  except  when  in  states  of  temptation.' 
Once  he  had  a  grievous  toothache  for  many 
days.  Robsahm  recommended  him  some  cora- 
iHon  remedy.  But  he  refused  it,  and  said : 
*  My  pain  proceeds  not  from  the  nerve  of  the 
tooth,  but  from  the  influx  of  hypocritical  spir- 
its that  beset  me,  and  by  correspondence  cause 
this  plague,  which  will  soon  leave  me.'  Like 
other  studious  sedentary  persons,  his  stomach 
was  weak,  particularly  during  the  last  four- 
teen years  of  his  life,  which  caused  him  to  be 
fiomewhat  singular  in  his  diet.  Not  less,  how- 
ever, from  the  concurrent  testimony  of  those 
who  knew  him  best,  than  from  the  works  that 
Le  executed,  we  know  that  he  enjoyed  a  fine 
constitution-  Health,  is  the  ground  which 
great  persons  cultivate,  whereby  they  ex- 
change the  light  flying  hours  into  golden  usage. 
To  them  it  is  industry  represented  in  its  pow- 
er ;  the  human  riches  of  time.  The  minute 
glass  runs  willingly  sand  of  centuries  when 
great  ideas  are  in  the  healthful  moments.     So 


it  was  with  Swedenborg.  The  powers  of  his 
mind  were  matched  with  an  extraordinary 
strength  of  body,  wiiich  pain  and  passion  seem 
scarcely  to  have  touched,  and  hence  the  crowd 
of  his  works,  and  iiis  broad  apparent  leisure. 
Tlie  day  of  such  a  man  is  full  of  commerce 
and  transactions  ;  the  reciprooatibn  is  unwea- 
ried from  health  to  genius  ;  the  able-bodied 
hours  cultivate  his  life  to  uncommon  produc- 
tiveness, and  stretch  out  the  points  and  patches 
of  his  time  towards  the  largeness  of  their 
eternal  source. 

411.  "  Health  in  its  whole  sense  is  happi- 
ness. Here  again  Sandel  says  of  Sweden- 
borg: 'Content  within  himself  and  with  his 
situation,  his  life  was  in  all  respects  one  of  the 
ha|)[)iest  that  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  man,  until 
the  very  moment  of  its  close.'  '  His  inward 
serenity  and  complacency  of  mind,'  sa3's  Hart- 
ley. '  were  manifest  in  the  sweetness  of  his 
looks  and  his  outward  demeanor.'  His  own 
testimony  corroborates  tiiat  of  Sandel.  In  a 
passage  in  his  Diary  (n.  3023),  where  he 
treats  of  tlie  proposition,  that  '  the  enjoyments 
and  pleasures  of  life  are  never  denied  to  us,' 
he  says :  '  To  this  I  can  bear  witness,  that 
they  have  never  been  denied  to  me,  but  grant- 
ed, and  not  only  the  pleasures  of  the  body  and 
the  senses  as  to  others  of  the  living,  but  I 
have  had  joys  and  happiness  such  as  no  others 
I  suppose  have-  felt  in  the  universal  world, 
and  these,  both  more  and  more  exquisite  than 
any  mortal  can  imagine  or  believe.' 

412.  "  Swedenborg's  works  furnish  one  con- 
tinued proof  of  these  assertions.  Who  does 
not  know  that  peace  and  power  are  one  ;  that 
tranquillity  is  the  main  circumstance  of  the 
best  lifetimes  ?  No  matter  to  this  whether 
the  sky  be  calm,  or  the  soul  unassaulted ;  it  is 
the  preservation  of  the  balance,  and  the  firm- 
footedness  of  the  man,  under  whatever  trials, 
that  constitute  the  repose  of  which  we  speak. 
Swedenborg's  works,  we  repeat,  from  begin- 
ning to  end,  are  on  a  high  level  of  peace ; 
their  even  flow  is  as  of  a  sea  inclining  only 
to  the  constellations.  No  cursory  moon  regu- 
lates its  tides  from  nearer  attractions,  but  they 
move  to  the  vault,  and  though  they  change, 
it  is  not  by  months,  but  with  ages. 


PART    III. 

Personal  Testimonies  and  Anecdotes. 

413.  "  Having  thus  followed  Swedenborg 
through  his  life  and  labors,  it  remains  to  gather 
up  any  personal  particulars  that  remain  unap- 
propriated, and  also  to  place  before  the  reader 
what  testimonies  exist,  to  the  public  and  pri- 
vate character  of  Swedenborg.  We  begin 
with  the  latter  first.  If  the  re«ord  savor  of 
eulogy,  it  is  from  no  partiality  of  ours,  bqt 
because  history  chooses. 

414.  "Sandel  says  :  'If  his  love  of  knowl- 
edge went  too  far,  it  at  least  evinced  in  him 


104 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


an  ardent  desire  to  obtain  information  himself, 
and  convey  it  to  otliers  ;  for  you  never  find 
in  him  any  mark  of  pride  or  conceit,  of  rash- 
ness, or  of  intention  to  deceive.  If  he  is  not 
to  be  numbered  among  the  doctors  of  the 
church,  he  at  least  holds  an  honorable  rank 
among  sublime  moralists,  and  deserves  to  be 
instanced  as  a  pattern  of  virtue  and  of  respect 
for  his  Creator.  He  never  allowed  himself 
to  have  recourse  to  dissimulation.  .  .  . 
A  sincere  friend  of  mankind,  in  his  examina- 
tion of  the  character  of  others,  he  was  par- 
ticularly desirous  to  discover  in  them  this 
virtue,  which  he  regarded  as  an  infallible 
proof  of  the  presence  of  many  more.  He 
was  cheerful  and  agreeable  in  society.  By 
way  of  relaxation  from  his  important  labors, 
he  sought  and  frequented  the  company  of  per- 
sons of  information,  by  whom  he  was  always 
well  received.  He  knew  how  to  check  oppor- 
tunely, and  with  great  address,  that  species 
of  wit  which  would  indulge  itself  at  the  ex- 
pense of  serious  things.  As  a  public  function- 
ary, he  was  upright  and  just :  while  he  dis- 
charged his  duties  with  great  exactness,  he 
neglected  nothing  but  his  own  advancement. 
.  In  the  Diet  his  conduct  was  such  as 
to  secure  him  both  from  the  reproaches  of  his 
own  conscience  and  from  those  of  others.  He 
lived  under  the  reigns  of  many  of  our  sover- 
eigns, and  enjoyed  the  particular  favor  and 
kindness  of  them  all.  ...  It  may  truly 
be  said  that  he  was  solitary,  but  never  sad.' 

415.  "  Count  Ilopken  remarks :  '  I  have 
not  only  known  him  tiiese  two  and  forty  years, 
but  also  some  time  since  daily  frequented  his 
company.  ...  I  do  not  recollect  to  have 
known  any  man  of  more  unilbrmly  virtuous 
character  ;  always  contented,  never  fretful  or 
morose  ;  he  was  a  true  philosopher,  and  lived 
like  one.  He  labored  diligently,  and  lived 
frugally,  without  sordidness.  •  .  .  He 
possessed  a  sound  judgment  upon  all  occasions, 
saw  every  thing  clearly,  and  expressed  him- 
self well  on  every  subject.  .  .  .  He  de- 
tested metaphysics.  .  .  .  He  was  certain- 
ly a  patern  of  sincerity,  virtue  and  piety,  and 
at  the  same  time,  in  my  opinion,  the  most 
learned  man  in  this  kingdom.'  * 

416.  "  Robsahm  says  :  '  How  he  was  looked 
upon  in  foreign  lands  I  do  not  know,  but  in 
Stockholm  even  those  who  could  not  read  his 
writings  were  always  pleased  to  meet  him  in 
company,  and  paid  respectful  attention  to 
whatever  he  said.' 

417.  '"He  attects  no  honor,'  says  Hartley, 
'but  declines  it;  pursues  no  worldly  interest; 


*  "  Count  niipkeii  says  in  a  letter  to  H  friend  :  '  I  have  some- 
times told  the  king,  that  if  ever  a  new  colony  were  to  be  formed, 
no  religion  could  be  better,  as  the  prevailing  and  established  one, 
than  that  developed  by  Svvedenborg  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures, 
and  this  on  the  two  following  accounts:  1st.  This  religion,  in 
preference  to,  and  in  a  higher  degree  than,  any  other,  inust  pro- 
duce the  most  honest  and  industrious  subjecfs  ;  for  this  religion 
places  properly  (Ac  worship  of  God  in  uses.  2dly.  It  causes  the  least 
fear  of  death,  as  tnis  religion  regards  death  merely  as  a  transition 
from  one  state  into  another,  from  a  worse  tn  a  better  situation  ; 
nay,  upon  his  principles,  I  look  upon  death  as  bemg  of  hardly 
any  greater  moment  than  drinking  a  glass  of  water.' 


.  .  .  and  is  so  far  from  the  ambition  of  head- 
ing a  sect,  that  wherever  he  resides  on  his  trav- 
els, he  is  a  mere  solitary.'  And  after  Swe- 
denborg's  death.  Hartley  again  writes :  '  The 
great  Svvedenborg  was  a  man  of  uncommon 
humility.  He  was  of  a  catholic  spirit,  and 
loved  all  good  men  of  every  church,  making 
at  the  same  time  candid  allowance  for  the  in- 
nocence of  involuntary  error.  However  self- 
denying  in  his  own  person  as  to  gratifications 
and  indulgences,  even  within  the  bounds  of 
moderation,  yet  nothing  severe,  nothing  of  the 
precisian  appeared  in  him.' 

418.  "And  lastly  Ferelius  remarks  :  'Many 
may  suppose  that  Assessor  Swedenborg  was 
a  singular  and  eccentric  person  ;  this  was  not 
the  case.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  very  agree- 
able and  complaisant  in  company  ;  he  entered 
into  conversation  on  every  topic,  and  accom- 
modated himself  to  the  ideas  of  the  party  ; 
and  he  never  mentioned  his  own  writings  and 
doctrines  but  when  he  was  asked  some  ques- 
tion about  them,  when  he  always  spoke  as 
freely  as  he  had  written.  If,  however,  he  ob- 
served that  any  persons  asked  impertinent 
questions,  or  attempted  to  ridicule  him,  he 
gave  them  answers  that  quickly  silenced  them, 
without  making  them  any  the  wiser.' 

419.  "The  persons  in  whose  houses  he 
lodged,  bear  concurrent  testimony.  Mr.  Brock- 
raer  (who  lived  in  Fetter  Lane)  says,  that 
'  if  he  believed  Swedenborg's  conversation 
with  angels  and  spirits  to  be  true,  he  should 
not  wonder  at  any  thing  he  said  or  did ;  but 
should  rather  wonder  that  surprise  and  aston- 
ishment did  not  betray  him  into  moie  un- 
guarded expressions  than  were  ever  known  to 
escape  him  :  for  he  did  and  said  nothing  but 
what  he  (Brockmer)  could  easily  account 
for  in  his  own  mind,  if  he  really  believed 
what  Svvedenborg  declares  in  his  writings  to 
be  true.  .  .  .  He  was  of  a  most  placid 
and  serene  disposition.' 

420.  "  Bergstrom  says  :  '  He  once  lived  ten 
weeks  with  me  in  my  house,  during  which 
time  I  observed  nothing  in  him  but  what  was 
very  reasonable,  and  bespoke  the  gentleman. 
For  my  part  I  think  he  was  a  reasonable, 
sensible  and  good  man  :  he  was  very  kind  to 
all,  and  generous  to  me.  As  for  his  peculiar 
sentiments,  I  do  not  meddle  with  them.' 

421.  "  Mr.  Shearsmith  declared, '  That  from 
the  first  day  of  his  coming  to  i-eside  at  his 
house,  to  the  last  day  of  his  life,  he  always 
conducted  himself  in  the  most  rational,  pru- 
dent, pious  and  Christian-like  manner.'  And 
Shearsmith's  maid  servant  commemorated  that 
'  he  was  a  good-natured  man,  a  blessing  to  the 
house ;  and  while  he  staid  there,  they  had 
harmony  and  good  business.  She  said  that 
betbre  he  came  to  their  house  he  was  offered 
another  lodging  in  the  neighborhood  ;  but  he 
told  the  mistress  then^  wanted  harmony  in  the 
house,  which  she  acknowledged ;  and  recom- 
mended him  to  Shearsmith's.' 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


105 


422.  "  The  homeliness  of  some  of  these  tes- 
timonies does  not  exchide  them  from  our 
pages,  because,  diving  as  they  do  into  Swe- 
denborg's  privacy,  they  are  just  what  we  want, 
to  fortify  our  knowledge  of  one  whose  interior 
life  was  so  different  from  other  men's.  Swe- 
denborg's  biography  is  a  court  in  which  such 
witnesses  are  precisely  those  whose  depositions 
will  first  be  taken  by  the  mass  of  the  public. 
If  the  testimony  is  trivial  in  so  great  a  case, 
it  is  the  cross  questioning  of  this  age  which 
elicits  it. 

Phenomena  of  Spiritual  Intercourse. 

423.  "  His  friends  and  domestics  had  occa- 
sional opportunities  of  observing  his  deport- 
ment when  in  his  trances.  Some  of  these  we 
Lave  already  narrated,  but  the  following  also 
merit  a  place. 

424.  "  On  one  occasion  Ferelius  visited 
him  during  his  sickness,  and  as  the  former 
was  going  up  stairs,  he  heard  Swedenborg 
speaking  with  energy,  as  though  addressing  a 
company.  Reaching  the  antecliamber  where 
his  female  attendant  was  sitting,  he  asked  her 
who  was  with  the  Assessor  ?  She  said,  '  No- 
body, and  that  he  had  been  speaking  in  that 
manner  for  three  days  and  nights.'  As  the 
reverend  gentleman  entered  the  chamber, 
Swedenborg  greeted  him  tranquilly,  and  asked 
him  to  take  a  seat.  He  told  him  that  he  had 
been  tempted  and  plagued  for  ten  days  by  evil 
spirits,  and  that  he  had  never  before  been 
tempted  by  such  wicked  ones  :  but  that  he  now 
again  enjoyed  the  company  of  good  spirits. 

425.  "  One  day,  while  he  was  in  health, 
Ferelius  visited  him  in  company  with  a  Dan- 
ish clergyman.  They  found  him  sitting  in 
the  middle  of  the  room  at  a  round  table,  writ- 
ing. The  Hebrew  Bible,  which  appeared  to 
constitute  his  whole  library,  lay  before  him. 
After  he  had  greeted  them,  he  pointed  to  the 
opposite  side  of  the  table,  and  said :  '  Just 
now  the  apostle  Peter  was  here,  and  stood 
there  ;  and  it  is  not  long  since  all  the  apostles 
were  with  me ;  indeed  they  often  visit  me.' 
'  In  this  manner,'  says  Ferelius,  '  he  spoke 
without  reserve ;  but  he  never  sought  to  make 
proselytes.'  They  asked  him  why  nobody  but 
himself  enjoyed  such  spiritual  privileges  ? 
He  said,  that  '  every  man  might  at  the  present 
day  have  them,  as  well  as  in  the  times  of  the 
Old  Testament ;  but  that  the  true  hinderance 

•  now  is,  the  sensual  state  into  which  mankind 
has  fallen.'  Kobsahm  also  once  questioned 
him,  whether  it  would  be  possible  for  others  to 
enjoy  the  same  spiritual  light  as  himself.  He 
answered,  '  Take  good  heed  upon  that  point : 
a   man   lays  himself  open  to  grievous  errors 

•  who  tries  by  barely  natural  powers  to  explore 
spiritual  things.'  He  further  said  that  to 
guard  against  this  the  Lord  had  taught  us  to 
pray,  lead  us  not  into  temptation :  meaning 
that  we  are  not  allowed,  in  the  pride  of  our 
natural  understandings,  to  doubt  of  the  divine 

14 


truths  of  revelation.  '  You  know,'  said  he, 
'  how  often  students,  especially  theologians, 
who  have  gone  far  in  useless  knowledge,  have 
become  insane.' 

42G.  "  The  reason  of  the  danger  of  man,  as 
at  present  constituted,  speaking  with  spirits, 
is,  that  we  are  all  in  association  with  our  likes, 
and  being  full  of  evil,  these  similar  spirits, 
could  we  face  them,  would  but  confirm  us  in 
our  own  state  anil  views,  and  lend  an  authori- 
ty from  whose  persuasiveness  we  could  hardly 
escape,  to  our  actual  evils  and  falsities.  Hence, 
for  freedom's  sake,  the  strict  partition  between 
the  worlds.  Tiie  case  was  otherwise  before 
hell  was  necessary  to  man's  life. 

427.  "  Shearsmith  used  to  be  frightened 
when  he  first  had  Swedenborg  for  a  lodger,  by 
reason  of  his  talking  at  all  hours,  the  night  as 
well  as  the  day.  He  would  sometimes  be  writ- 
ing, says  this  informant,  and  then  stand  talking 
in  the  doorstead  of  his  room,  as  if  holding  a 
conversation  with  several  persons;  but  as  he 
spoke  in  a  language  that  Shearsmith  did  not 
understand,  he  could  make  nothing  of  it. 

428.  His  faithful  domestics,  the  old  garden- 
er and  his  wife,  who  kept  his  house  near  Stock- 
holm, told  Robsahm  with  much  tenderness, 
that  they  had  frequently  overheard  his  strong 
agony  of  mind  vented  in  ejaculatory  prayer 
during  his  temptations.  He  often  prayed  to 
God  that  the  temptations  might  leave  him, 
crying  out  with  tears,  '  Lord  God,  help  me  ; 
my  God,  forsake  me  not.'  When  the  tempta- 
tion was  over,  and  they  inquired  of  him  the 
cause  of  his  distress,  he  answered,  '  God  be 
praised,  it  is  all  removed.  Be  not  uneasy  on 
my  account ;  all  that  happens  to  me,  happens 
with  God's  permission,  and  he  will  suflfer  noth- 
ing that  he  sees  I  am  unable  to  bear.'  After 
one  of  his  trials  he  went  to  bed,  and  remained 
there  many  days  and  nights  without  rising. 
His  servants  expected  that  he  had  died  of 
fright.  They  debated  whether  they  should 
not  summon  his  relatives,  and  force  open  the 
door.  At  length  the  gardener  climbed  up  to 
a  window,  and  looking  in,  to  his  great  joy  saw 
his  master  turn  in  bed.  The  following  day 
he  rang  the  bell.  The  wife  Avent  to  his  room, 
and  told  him  how  anxious  they  had  been  about 
him  ;  to  which  he  replied,  with  a  benignant 
look,  tliat  he  was  well,  and  had  wanted  for 
nothing.  One  day  after  dinner  the  same  do- 
mestic went  into  his  room,  and  saw  his  eyes 
siiining  with  an  appearance  as  of  clear  fire. 
She  started  back,  and  exclaimed  :  '  For  God's 
sake  what  is  the  matter  ?  You  look  fearfully  ! ' 
'  How  then  do  I  look  ? '  said  he.  She  told 
him  what  she  saw.  'Well,  well,'  said  he, 
'  Fear  not !  The  Lord  has  opened  my  bodili/ 
eyes,  so  that  spirits  see  through  them  into  the 
world.  I  shall  soon  be  out  of  this  state,  which 
will  not  hurt  me.'  In  about  half  an  hour  the 
shining  appearance  left  his  eyes.  His  old 
servant  professed  to  know  when  he  had  con- 

1  versed  with  heavenly  spirits,  from  the  pleasure 


io6 


LITE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG 


and  calm  satisfaction  in  his  countenance, 
whereas  when  he  had  been  infested  by  wick- 
ed spirits,  he  had  a  sorrowful  face. 

429.  "  What  is  here  related  of  his  eyes  has 
reason  to  support  it.  Animation  plays  upon 
the  eye,  and  shows  that  there  are  fire  chan- 
nels laid  down  in  the  tissues  of  that  organ,  or 
how  could  the  brilliance  permeate  it  ?  There 
is  a  fund  of  optics  in  common  life  that  science 
has  not  observed,  for  the  eye,  prior  to  the  hand, 
is  the  power  that  commands  the  world.  The 
eye  is  of  Protean  possibilities  :  the  soul  shoots 
through  it,  and  the  look  is  either  snaky,  or  an- 
gelic. Each  passion  has  its  proper  rays. 
This,  of  the  individual  eye.  But  if  one  soul 
can  make  an  eye  lustrous,  two  or  more  looking 
Uirough  the  same  eye  will  project  a  larger 
flame.  We  notice  a  peculiar  appearance  in 
Swedenborg's  portrait,  what  our  friend  Dr. 
Elliotson  deems  that  of  an  *  amiable  lunatic  : ' 
certainly  the  common  objects  appear  to  claim 
but  little  of  its  attention,  but  if  there  is  a  va- 
cancy, it  is  only  a  space  for  spirits,  and  when 
it  was  filled  by  them,  Swedenborg  would  no 
doubt  shine  from  the  borrowed  souls  to  those 
who  saw  him. 

Anecdotes,  &c. 

430.  "  We  have  already  spoken  of  one  of 
his  voyages  to  Sweden  :  we  will  complete  this 
set  of  anecdotes,  with  the  stories  told  of  Swe- 
denborg by  two  other  English  ship  captains. 
He  sailed  from  Sweden  on  a  certain  occasion 
with  one  Captain  Harrison.  During  almost 
the  whole  voyage  he  kept  his  berth,  but  was 
often  heard  speaking,  as  if  in  conversation. 
The  steward  and  cabin  boy  came  to  the  cap- 
tain, and  told  him  that  Swedenborg  seemed 
out  of  his  head.  '  Out  of  his  head  or  not,' 
said  the  captain,  '  so  long  as  he  is  quiet  I  have 
no  power  over  him.  He  is  always  reasonable 
with  me,  and  I  have  the  best  of  weather  when 
he  is  on  board.'  Harrison  told  Robsahm 
laughingly,  that  Swedenborg  might  sail  with 
him  gratis  whenever  he  pleased;  for  never 
since  he  was  a  mariner  had  he  such  voyages 
as  with  him. 

431.  "The  same  luck  went  with  Captain 
Browell,  who  carried  him  from  London  to 
Dalaron  in  eight  days,  during  the  most  of 
which,  as  in  the  former  instances,  he  lay  in 
his  berth  and  talked.  Captain  Hodson  also, 
another  of  his  carriers,  was  but  seven  days  on 
the  voyage,  and  found  Swedenborg's  company 
60  agreeable,  that  he  was  much  delighted  and 
taken  with  him :  as  he  confessed  to  Bergstrom. 

432.  "  In  this  context  we  introduce  what 
Springer  says  of  Swedenborg's  clear  seeing  as 
regarded  himself.  '  All  that  he  has  related 
to  me  respecting  my  deceased  acquaintances, 
both  friends  and  enemies,  and  the  secrets  that 
were  between  us,  almost  surpasses  belief.  He 
explained  to  me  in  what  manner  the  peace 
was  concluded  between  Sweden  and  the  king 
at'  Prussia;  and  he  praised  my  conduct   on 


that  occasion  :  he  even  told  me  who  were  the 
three  great  personages  of  whom  I  made  use 
in  that  affair ;  which,  nevertheless,  was  an 
entire  secret  between  them  and  me.  I  asked 
him  how  he  could  be  informed  of  such  particu- 
lars, and  who  had  discovered  them  to  him. 
He  rejoined,  "  Who  informed  me  of  your  af- 
fair with  Count  Ekeblad  ?  You  cannot  deny 
the  truth  of  what  I  have  told  you.  Continue," 
he  added.  "  to  deserve  his  reproaches :  turn 
not  aside,  either  for  riches  or  honors,  from  the 
path  of  rectitude,  but  on  the  contrary,  keep 
steadily  in  it,  as  you  have  done ;  and  you  will 
prosper."  '  In  the  affair  alluded  to,  Count 
P^keblad,  in  a  political  altercation,  had  pro- 
voked Springer  to  draw  his  sword  upon  him  ; 
but  they  had  afterwards  composed  the  quar- 
rel, and  promised  never  to  mention  it  while 
both  parties  were  alive.  On  another  occasion 
the  Count  had  attempted  to  bribe  Springer 
with  a  purse  of  10,000  rix  dollars,  which  sura 
and  circumstances  Swedenborg  particularly 
mentioned  to  the  latter,  saying  that  he  had 
them  from  the  Count,  just  then  deceased. 

433.  "  In  his  Diary  Swedenborg  has  spoken 
at  great  length  of  the  fates  in  the  other  life 
of  many  celebrated  persons  with  whom  he 
had  been  acquainted  in  the  world  ;  nor  has  his 
pen  been  withheld  from  similar  particulars 
about  his  own  relations.  On  this  account,  the 
work  could  not  have  been  printed  in  his  own 
day,  without  giving  offence  to  the  survivors  of 
those  whom  he  has  thus  described.  Some 
times  his  unreserve  led  him  to  announcements 
which  must  have  been  grating  to  his  auditors. 
An  instance  of  this'  kind  occurred  on  his 
voyage  from  Gottenburg  to  London  in  1747.  _ 
The  vessel  in  which  he  was  a  passenger 
stopped  at  Oresound,  and  M.  Kryger,  the 
Swedish  Consul,  invited  the  officers  of  the 
custom  house,  together  with  several  of  the  first 
people  of  the  town,  all  anxious  to  see  and 
know  Swedenborg,  to  dine  with  him  at  his 
house.  Being  all  seated  at  table,  and  none 
of  them  taking  the  liberty  of  addressing  Swe- 
denborg, who  was  likewise  silent,  the  Swedish 
consul  thought  it  incumbent  on  him  to  break 
silence,  for  which  purpose  he  took  occasion 
from  the  death  of  the  Danish  king  Chris- 
tian VI.,  which  happened  the  preceding  year, 
(1746,)  to  inquire  of  Swedenborg,  as  he  could 
see  and  speak  with  the  dead,  whether  he  had 
also  seen  Christian  \T.  after  his  decease.  To 
this  Swedenborg  replied  in  the  affirmative, 
adding,  that  when  he  saw  him  the  first  time, 
he  was  accompanied  by  a  bishop,  or  other 
prelate,  who  humbly  begged  the  king's  pardon 
for  the  many  errors  into  Avhich  he  had  led 
him  by  his  counsels.  A  son  of  the  said  de- 
ceased prelate  happened  to  be  present  at  the 
table  :  the  consul  M.  Kryger  therefore  fearing 
that  Swedenborg  might  say  something  further 
to  the  disadvantage  of  the  father,  interrupted 
him,  saying.  Sir,  this  is  his  son  !  Swedenborg 
replied,  it  may  be,  but  what  I  am  saying  is  true. 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


107 


434.  "As  to  those  in  the  other  life  with 
whom  he  could  converse,  the  privilege  had 
its  limitations.  When  the  Queen  of  Sweden 
asked  whether  his  spiritual  intercourse  was 
a  science  or  art  that  could  be  communicated 
to  others,  he  said  No,  that  it  was  a  gift  of 
the  Lord.  '  Can  you  then,'  said  she,  '  speak 
with  every  one  deceased,  or  only  witli  certain 
persons  ? '  He  answered,  '  I  cainiot  converse 
with  all,  but  with  such  as  I  have  known  in 
this  world,  with  all  royal  and  princely  persons, 
with  all  renowned  heroes,  or  great  and  learned 
men,  whom  I  have  known,  either  personally, 
or  from  their  actions  or  writings  ;  consequent- 
ly, with  all,  of  whom  I  could  form  an  idea ; 
for  it  may  be  su|)posed  that  a  person  whom  I 
never  knew,  and  of  whom  I  could  form  no 
idea,  I  neither  could  nor  would  wish  to  speak 
with.'  In  further  proof  of  this,  we  may  cite 
an  anecdote  related  by  Ferelius,  '  With  other 
news,'  says  he,  '  which  on  one  occasion  I  re- 
ceived from  Sweden  through  the  post,  was  the 
announcement  of  the  death  of  Swedenborg's 
sister,  the  widow  Sundstedt.  I  communicated 
this  information  to  a  Swedish  gentleman 
whose  name  was  Meier,  who  was  travelling  in 
England  at  that  time,  and  who  haj)pened  to  be 
at  my  house  when  the  news  came.  This  per- 
son went  immediately  to  Svvedenborg,  and  con- 
veyed the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  his  sister. 
When  he  returned  he  said,  that  he  thought 
Swedenborg's  declaration  respecting  his  inter- 
course with  the  dead  could  not  be  true,  since 
he  knew  nothing  of  the  death  of  his  sister. 
The  next  time  I  saw  the  old  man  I  mentioned 
this  to  him,  when  he  said,  "  that  of  such  cases 
he  had  no  knowledge,  since  he  did  not  desire 
to  know  them." ' 

43.^.  "  On  one  occasion  he  was  applied  to 
under  the  following  circumstances.  A  certain 
minister  of  State  flattered  himself  that  he 
could,  through  Swedenborg,  obtain  some  par- 
ticulars of  what  had  become  of  a  prince  of 
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeldt,  named  John  William, 
who  disappeared  in  the  year  1745,  without 
any  one  knowing  what  had  become  of  him. 
Nothing  was  said  either  of  his  age,  or  his  per- 
son. Swedenborg  made  an  answer  which  is 
preserved  in  the  library  of  his  Excellency  Lars 
von  Engerstrom.  He  said  among  other  things 
that  the  prince,  after  being  twenty-seven  years 
in  the  spiritual  world,  was  in  a  society,  into 
which  he  (Swedenborg)  could  not  readily  gain 
admission  :  that  the  angels  had  no  knowledge 
of  his  state,  and  that  the  matter  was  not  im- 
portant enough  to  warrant  his  asking  the  Lord 
himself  about  it."  —  Wilkinson's  Biography, 
pp.  2IG-231. 

43G.  "  It  is  related  by  Mr.  Provo,  a  respect- 
able gentleman  of  the  medical  profession,  who 
published  the  work  called  "  Wisdom's  Dic- 
tates," that  Swedenborg  told  him  that  "  the 
Queen  of  Sweden  had  secretly  burnt  a  letter 
which  her  brother  had  sent  to  her,  a  short 
time  before  a  battle  in  which  he  was  kiUed, 


and  she  wanted  to  know  some  other  particulars 
relative  to  its  contents.  Svvedenborg,  some 
days  after  her  application  to  him,  returned,  and 
told  her  that  her  brother  was  offended  that 
she  had  burnt  his  letter;  and  as  tliis  was 
known  to  none  but  herself,  she  nearly  fainted 
at  hearing  it ;  and  was  always  very  courteous 
to  him  afterwards. 

437.  "  JNIr.  Hart  related  to  Mr.  Provo,  about 
the  year  1779,  that  he  thought  Swedenborg  a 
remarkable  man,  for  whilst  he  v/as  abroad, 
old  Mr.  Hart,  his  father,  died  in  London.  On 
Swedenborg's  return  he  went  to  spend  an 
evening  at  Mr.  Hart's  house,  in  Popi)in'3 
court.  After  being  let  in  at  the  street  door, 
he  was  told  that  his  old  friend,  Mr.  Hart,  was 
dead  ;  to  which  he  replied,  '  I  know  tiiat  very 
well,  for  I  saw  him  in  the  spiritual  world 
whilst  I  was  in  Holland,  at  such  a  time  [near 
the  time  he  died,  or  soon  after]  ;  also  whilst 
coming  over  in  the  packet  to  England  :  he  is 
not  now  in  heaven,'  continued  he,  '  but  is 
coming  round,  and  in  a  good  way  to  do  well.' 
This  much  surprised  the  widow  and  son,  for 
they  knew  that  he  was  just  come  over,  and  they 
said  that  he  was  of  such  a  nature  that  he 
could  impose  on  no  one,  that  he  always  spoke 
the  truth  concerning  every  little  matter,  and 
would  not  have  made  any  evasion  though  his 
life  had  been  at  stake."  —  Documents,  [)p.  77-79. 

438.  •'  The  celebrated  Springer,  who  lived 
in  London,  told  Swedenborg  on  one  occasion 
that  a  distinguished  Swedish  gentleman,  who, 
I  believe,  was  a  brother  of  the  present  Count 
Hopken,  one  of  the  counsellors  of  state,  was 
dead.  Some  days  afterwards,  when  they  met 
again,  the  Assessor  said  to  him  —  '  It  is  true, 
Hopken  is  dead  !  I  have  spoken  with  him, 
and  he  told  me  that  you  and  he  were  compan- 
ions together  at  Upsala,  and  that  you  after- 
wards entertained  views  partly  similar  and  part- 
ly dissimilar  concerning  political  subjects.'  He 
also  told  him  several  anecdotes,  which  Spring- 
er acknowledged  to  be  true,  and  declared,  at 
the  same  time,  that  it  was  his  firm  conviction 
that  Swedenborg  could  not  have  acquired  the 
information  from  any  other  source  than  from 
above."  —  Documents,  p.  197. 

439.  In  the  first  part  of  this  Biography,  we 
narrated  the  only  love  affair  in  which  our 
author  was  engaged.  General  Tuxen  also 
relates  that,  "  He  once  asked  Swedenborg 
whether  he  had  ever  been  married,  or  desirous 
of  marrying  ?  "  He  answered,  "  That  he  had 
not  been  married  ;  but  that  once  in  his  youth 
he  had  been  on  the  road  to  matrimony.  King 
Charles  XII.  having  recommended  the  famous 
Polheim  to  give  him  his  daughter."  On  asking 
what  obstacle  had  prevented  it,  he  said,  "  She 
would  not  have  me."  With  regard,  however, 
to  Emerentia  Polheim,  Swedenborg  in  his  old 
age,  as  Tijbeck  relates,  assured  the  daugh- 
ters and  sons-in-law  of  the  former  object  of 
his  affection,  as  they  visited  him  in  his  garden, 
that  "  he  could  converse  with  their  departed 


108 


LIFE  AND    WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


mother  whenever  he  pleased."  "  It  was  told 
us  by  the  late  Mr.  Charles  Augustus  Tulk,  but 
we  have  no  document  for  it,  that  our  author 
used  to  say  that  he  had  seen  his  allotted  wife 
'  in  the  spiritual  world,  who  was  waiting  for 
him,  and  under  her  mortal  name  had  been  a 
Countess  Gyllenborg.  If  it  be  true,  it  is  a 
corroboration  of  Dante  and  Beatrice. 

440.  "•  We  have  already  dwelt .  at  length 
upon  the  signs  which  for  some  years  preceded 
the  opening  of  Swedenborg's  spiritual  sight. 
These  indeed  were  of  such  a  nature,  that  he  af- 
terwards wondered  that  he  had  not  previously 
arrived  at  the  persuasion  that  the  Lord  gov- 
erns the  universe  by  spiritual  agency.  Nev- 
ertheless he  was  in  a  position  to  make  every 
allowance  for  the  scepticism  of  others,  for  he 
admits  that  on  one  occasion,  many  months 
after  he  had  spoken  with  spirits,  he  perceived 
that  if  he  were  remitted  into  his  former  state, 
he  might  still  fall  back  into  the  opinion  that 
all  he  iiad  seen  was  fantasy. 

441.  "His  coolness  and  tranquillity,  and 
unselfish  character,  were  also  circumstances 
essential  to  his  higher  gifts.  We  know  how 
vital  they  are  to  the  prosecution  of  the  sci- 
ences. '  The  Lord,'  he  said,  '  had  given  him 
a  love  of  spiritual  truth,  that  is  to  say,  not 
with  a  view  to  lionor  or  j)rofit,  but  merely  for 
the  sake  of  the  truth  itself.'  No  man  of  that 
age  was  so  uninterrupted  in  his  mind,  or  so 
nakedly  devout  to  his  objects  as  Swedenborg. 
'The  elements  themselves,'  said  Sandel, '  would 
have  striven  in  vain  to  turn  him  from  his 
course.'  The  competency  also  of  his  fortune 
excluded  one  species  of  cares,  which  he  seemed 
only  to  taste  occasionally,  for  the  experiment 
of  their  spiritual  results.  There  is  a  passage 
in  his  Diary  which  illustrates  this.  *I  have 
now,'  says  lie,  '  been  for  tliirty-three  months  in 
a  state  in  which  my  mind  is  withdrawn  from 
bodily  affairs ;  and  hence  can  be  present  in 
the  societies  of  the  spiritual  and  the  celestial. 

.  .  Yet  whenever  lam  intent  upon  world- 
ly matters,  or  have  cares  and  desires  about 
money,  (such  as  caused  me  to  write  a  letter 
to-day,)  I  lapse  into  a  bodily  state  ;  and  the 
spirits,  as  they  inform  me,  cannot  speak  with 
me,  but  say  that  they  are  in  a  manner  absent. 
.  This  shows  me  that  spirits  cannot 
speak  with  a  man  who  dwells  upon  worldly 
and  bodily  cares  ;  for  the  things  of  the  body 
draw  down  his  ideas,  and  drown  them  in  the 
body.  March  4,  1748.'  It  was  however  sel- 
dom that  Swedenborg  experienced  such  dis- 
tractions, and  as  for  his  fame  in  the  world,  and 
the  success  of  his  books,  these  were  things 
that  did  not  trouble  him.  When  General 
Tuxeu  asked  him  how  many  he  thought  there 
were  in  tlie  world  who  favored  his  doctrine, 
he  i-eplied  that  '  there  might  perhaps  be  fifty, 
and  in  proportion  the  same  number  in  the 
world  of  spirits.'  But  said  he  to  Springer, 
*  God  kows  the  time  when  his  church  ought 
to  commence.' 


Diet. 

442.  "  His  diet  was  a  constant  harmonj 
and  preparation  of  his  seership.  '  Eat  not 
so  much  '  was  written  over  its  portal,  and  the 
instruction  was  obeyed  throughout  the  curricu- 
lum of  his  experiences.  The  vermin  of  glut- 
tony are  all  those  bodily  lives  that  exceed  the 
dominion  of  spiritual ;  and  these  he  cast  out 
and  kept  out,  fining  down  the  body  to  the 
shapely  strictness  of  the  soul.  We  read  of 
one  excess  that  he  committed  of  so  peculiar  a 
nature,  that  we  tell  it  in  his  own  words.  It 
occurs  in  his  Diary,  with  the  strong  heading, 
'The  stink  of  intemperance.'  '  One  evening,' 
says  he,  ^  I  took  a  great  meal  of  milk  and 
bread,  more  than  the  spirits  considered  good  for 
me.  On  this  occasion  they  dwelt  upon  intem- 
perance, and  accused  me  of  it.'  He  then 
proceeds  to  say,  that  they  made  him  sensibly 
perceive  the  foulness  which  their  ideas  attrib- 
uted to  him.  If  so  infantine  a  debauch  was 
thus  reproved,  we  may  imagine  how  sensitive 
a  thermometer  of  appetite  his  daily  spiritual 
relations  furnished ;  how  the  spirits  that  came 
to  him  opened  a  correspondence  with  the  '  ani- 
mal spirits  '  that  were  embodied  by  his  diet. 
Seership,  as  a  general  rule,  is  coincident  with 
abstemiousness,  which  is  the  directest  means 
of  putting  down  the  body,  and  by  the  law  of 
the  balance,  of  lifting  up  the  soul ;  and  where 
seership  is  thus  produced,  it  will  of  itself  lead 
to  new  demands  from  the  soul,  or  new  exi- 
gencies of  temperance.  We  might  instance 
the  Hindoo  seers  as  examples  of  these  re- 
marks, or  we  might  support  them  by  numer- 
ous cases  occurring  in  Europe,  and  even  at 
the  present  time ;  not  to  mention  that  the 
germs  of  the  experience  are  within  every 
man's  knowledge. 

443.  "  As  the  man  depends  so  much  upon 
the  dinner,  and  the  dinner  upon  the  appetite 
and  the  self-control,  it  is  interesting  to  know 
what  was  the  diet  of  a  man  so  industrious, 
peaceful  and  deep-eyed  as  Swedenborg.  For 
some  time  after  his  spiritual  intercourse  com- 
menced, his  mode  of  living  appears  to  have 
been  not  unusual,  excepting  that  the  quantity 
was  moderate :  he  occasionally  drank  one  or 
two  glasses  of  wine  after  dinner,  but  never 
more;  and  he  took  no  supper.  In  company, 
throughout  his  life,  he  followed  the  habit  of 
the  table,  and  took  wine,  '  but  always  very 
moderately.'  During  the  last  fifteen  years  of 
his  life  he  almost  abandoned  the  use  of  ani- 
mal food,  yet  at  times  would  eat  a  little  fish, 
eels  particularly.  His  main  stays  were  bread 
and  butter,  milk  and  coffee,  almonds  and  rai- 
sins, vegetables,  biscuits,  cakes  and  ginger- 
bread, which  he  used  frequently  to  bring 
home  with  him,  and  share  with  the  children. 
He  was  a  water  drinker,  but  his  chief  bever- 
age was  coffee  made  very  sweet,  and  without 
milk.  Collin  is  correct  when  he  says  that 
pensive  men  generally  ai'e  fond  of  coffee.     At 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


109 


his  house  in  Stockholm  he  had  a  fire  from 
winter  to  spring  almost  constantly  in  his  study, 
at  which  he  made  his  own  coffee,  and  drank 
it  often  both  in  the  day  and  the  night.  lie 
was  very  temperate.  It  appears  that  he  ab- 
stained from  animal  food  from  dietetic  consid- 
erations. At  the  same  time  there  dwelt  in  his 
mind  a  vegetarian  tendency,  pointed  towards 
the  future,  or  at  least,  what  is  the  same  thing, 
crying  out  from  the  past.  He  writes  on  the 
subject  in  his  Arcana  as  follows:  '  Considered 
apart,  eating  the  flesh  of  animals  is  somewhat 
profane.  The  most  ancient  people  never  on 
any  account  eat  the  flesh  of  either  beast  or 
fowl,  but  lived  entirely  upon  grain,  especially 
on  wheaten  bread,  on  fruit,  vegetables  and 
herbs,  various  kinds  of  milk,  butter,  &c.  It 
was  unlawful  for  them  to  kill  animals,  or  to 
eat  their  flesh.  They  looked  upon  it  as  bes- 
tial, and  were  content  with  the  uses  and  ser- 
vices that  animals  afforded  them.  But  in 
process  of  time,  when  men  became  as  cruel  as 
wild  beasts,  yea,  much  more  cruel,  they  began 
to  slay  animals,  and  eat  their  flesh  ;  and  in 
consideration  of  this  nature  in  man,  the  killing 
and  eating  of  animals  was  permitted,  and  con- 
tinues to  be  so.' 

Sleep. 

444.  "  Swedenborg  was  ])eculiar  in  the  mat- 
ter of  sleep ;  in  his  latter  years  he  paid  little 
attention  to  times  and  seasons ;  often  labored 
through  the  whole  night,  and  had  no  stated 
periods  of  repose.  '  When  I  am  sleepy,'  said 
he,  '  I  go  to  bed.'  He  kept  also  little  account 
of  the  days  of  the  week.  As  we  have  seen 
already,  he  sometimes  continued  in  bed  for 
several  days  together,  when  enjoying  his  spir- 
itual trances.  He  desired  Sliearsmith  never 
to  disturb  him  at  such  times ;  an  injunction 
which  was  necessary,  for  the  look  of  his  face 
was  so  peculiar  on  these  occasions  that  Shear- 
smith  sometimes  feared  he  was  dead.  At 
other  times,  as  soon  as  he  awoke  he  went  into 
his  study  (when  in  Stockholm),  kindled  the 
embers  of  his  fire  from  a  ready  supply  of 
dry  wood  and  birch  bark,  and  immediately  sat 
down  to  write. 

Conversation. 

445.  "  He  was  not  fluent  in  conversation  ; 
indeed  he  had  an  impediment  in  his  speech, 
which  perhaps  predisposed  him  to  the  loss  of 
it  that  he  suffered  from  his  apoplectic  seizure. 
It  does  not  appear  that  he  had  a  remarkable 
facility  for  acquiring  languages,  for  we  find 
that  although  he  resided  so  long  in  London, 
he  could  not  hold  a  running  conversation  in 
English.  He  was,  however,  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  the  modern  languages,  as  well 
as  with  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin.  All  the 
authorities  agree  that  his  speech,  though  not 
facile,  was  impressive.  He  spoke  with  de- 
liberation, and  when  his  voice  was  heard,  it 
was  a  signal  for  silence  in  others,  while  the 
slowness  of  his  delivery  increased  the  curiosity 


of  the  listeners.  He  entered  into  no  disputes 
on  matters  of  religion,  but  when  oltligcd  to  de- 
fend himself,  he  did  it  mildly  and  Ijriefiy  ;  and 
if  any  one  insisted  upon  argument,  and  be- 
came warm  against  him,  he  r(!tired,  with  a 
recommendation  to  them  '  to  read  his  writings.' 
If  any  one  objected  that  it  was  impossible  to 
believe,  he  replied,  '  I  do  not  wonder  at  that,' 
and  turned  the  conversation  to  other  subjects. 
One  day,  when  Mr.  Cookworthy  was  with  him 
in  Coldbath  Fields,  a^  person  present  objected 
to  something  that  he  had  said,  and  argued  the 
point  in  his  own  way  ;  but  Swedenborg  only  re- 
plied, '  I  receive  information  from  angels  upon 
such  things  : '  a  response  of  a  forcible  nature, 
supposing  it  true,  for  how  many  ])roblems  in- 
troduction into  the  spiritual  world  would  an- 
swer :  what  a  smiting  criticism  for  instance 
Polheim  made,  or  rather  was,  upon  tiie  burial 
service,  just  because  he  stood  beyond  the 
grave.  Mr.  Buckhardt  relates,  that  on  one 
occasion  he  was  present  when  Swedenborg 
dined  in  London  with  some  of  the  Swedish 
clergy ;  and  a  polemic  arising  between  him 
and  one  of  them  concerning  the  Lord,  and  the 
nature  of  our  duty  to  Him,  Swedenborg  '  over- 
threw the  tenets  of  his  opponent,  who  appeared 
but  a  child  to  him  in  knowledge.'  We  can 
believe  that  there  was  a  formidable  power  in 
his  slow  utterances. 

446.  "  Were  this  the  place  we  might  say 
much  upon  the  almost  invariable  partition  that 
takes  place  between  the  gifts  of  speaking  and 
of  thoughtful  writing ;  so  seldom  united,  in 
one  person.  The  difference  between  the  en- 
dowments lies  somewhat  in  mental  velocities, 
the  writer  deploying  his  forces  with  a  slow- 
ness measured  to  the  pen  strokes ;  the  orator 
rushing  forth  with  his  at  voice  speed.  The 
light  and  heavy  dragoons  of  intelligence  fulfil 
different  tactics  in  the  battles  of  the  Word. 
Where  impediment  of  speech  takes  place,  it  is 
a  sign  of  lacking  communication  between  the 
mind  and  the  organs  —  of  meanings  in  dis- 
course coming  down  flashwise  ;  and  in  Swe- 
denborg's  instance,  it  might  argue  some  pre- 
disposition for  that  separation  and  absence  of 
soul  from  body  for  which  his  life  was  other- 
wise remarkable :  if  this  be  not  too  medical 
an  opinion. 

Peculiarities. 

447.  "  "VMien  in  London  he  went  occasion- 
ally to  the  Swedish  church,  and  afterwards 
dined  with  Ferelius  or  some  other  of  his  coun- 
trymen ;  but  he  told  them  that  '  he  had  no 
peace  in  the  church  on  account  of  spirits,  who 
contradicted  what  the  preacher  said,  especial- 
ly when  he  spoke  of  three  persons  in  the  God- 
head, which  amounted  in  reality  to  three  gods.' 

448.  "  During  his  latter  years  he  became 
less  and  less  attentive  to  the  concerns  of  this 
world  :  even  when  walking  abroad  he  seemed 
to  be  engaged  in  spiritual  communion,  and 
took  little  notice  of  things  and  people  in  the 
streets.     When   he    went   out   in   Stockholm 


110 


LIFE   AND   WHITINGS    OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


without  the  observation  of  his  domestics,  some 
singularity  in  his  dress  perchance  would  beto- 
ken his  abstraction.  Once  when  he  dined  with 
Robsahm's  father,  he  appeared  with  one  shoe 
buckle  of  plain  silver,  and  the  other,  set  with 
precious  stones  ;  greatly  to  the  amusement  of 
the  young  ladies  of  the  party.  But  a  man  of 
eighty  and  upwards,  a  seer  and  an  old  bache- 
lor besides,  might  be  pardoned  for  some  inat- 
tentions. 

449.  "  In  person,  says  Shearsmith,  he  was 
about  five  feet  nine  inches  high,  rather  thin, 
and  of  a  brown  complexion.  His  eyes  were  of 
a  brownish  gray,  nearly  hazel,  and  rather  small. 
He  had  always  a  cheerful  smile  upon  his  coun- 
tenance. Mr.  Servante  remembered  him  as 
an  old  gentleman  of  a  dignified  and  venerable 
appearance,  whose  thoughtful  yet  mildly  ex- 
pressive countenance,  added  to  something  very 
unusual  in  his  air,  attracted  his  attention  forci- 
bly. When  Collin  visited  him  he  was  thin 
and  pale,  but  still  retained  traces  of  beauty, 
and  had  something  very  pleasing  in  his  physi- 
ognomy, and  a  dignity  in  his  erect  stature. 
Ab  Indagine  relates  that  his  eyes  were  always 
smiling;  and  Robsahm,  that  his  countenance 
was  always  illuminated  by  the  light  of  his  un- 
common genius.  When  he  lodged  with  Berg- 
Ptrom  he  usually  walked  out  after  breakfast, 
dressed  neatly  in  velvet,  and  made  a  good  ap- 
pearance. His  suit,  according  to  Shearsmith, 
was  made  after  an  old  fashion,  and  he  wore  a 
full-bottomed  wig,  a  pair  of  long  ruffles,  and  a 
ciu'ious  hiked  sword,  and  carried  a  gold-headed 
cane.  In  Sweden  his  dress  was  simple,  but 
neat  and  convenient :  during  the  winter  he  was 
clad  in  a  garment  of  reindeer  skins,  and  in 
summer,  in  a  study  gown,  '  both  well  worn,' 
— :  so  Robsahm  says,  —  *  as  became  a  philoso- 
pher.' He  would  not  tolerate  linen  sheets  on 
his  bed,  but  lay  between  woollen  blankets. 
Wherever  he  lived,  his  habits  were  plain  to 
the  last  degree  ;  in  Stockholm  he  required  no 
services  of  his  old  gardener's  wife,  but  to  make 
his  bed,  and  bring  a  large  pitcher  of  water 
daily  to  his  study  :  for  the  rest,  he  waited 
ujwn  himself.  His  journeys  were  made  with 
no  parade,  and  few  of  the  conveniences  of 
travelling.  He  took  no  servant  with  him,  and 
rode  in  an  open  wagon  from  Stockholm  to 
Gottenburg,  where  he  embarked  for  England 
or  Holland,  to  have  his  manuscripts  printed. 

450.  "  In  money  matters  Swedenborg  was 
at  once  saving  and  liberal.  Those  with  whom 
he  had  affairs,  spoke  always  of  his  generosity. 
Provided  with  sutHcient  means,  he  adminis- 
tered them  strictly  for  public  services.  AYhat- 
ever  his  motives  might  be,  it  is  certain  that  he 
would  receive  back  no  proceeds  from  the  sale 
of  certain  of  his  works,  but  dedicated  the 
whole  to  religious  subscriptions.  Possibly  he 
deemed  that  as  he  was  but  an  amanuensis  of 
spiritual  powers,  he  had  no  right  to  keep  a 
commercial  account  of  the  results.     Moreover, 


he  sold  his  works  at  unre^iunerative  prices, 
and  indeed  gave  a  great  portion  of  them  away. 
When  Dr.  Hartley  offered  to  lend  him  money, 
he  returned  for  answer  that  '  as  to  this  world's 
wealth  he  had  what  was  sufficient,  and  more 
he  neither  sought  nor  wished  for.'  Count 
Hopken  says  that  '  he  lived  frugally  without 
sordidness,  and  that  his  travels  cost  him  no 
more  than  when  he  remained  at  home.'  He 
was  not  remarkably  in  the  habit  of  almsgiving, 
for  he  used  to  say  that  'most  of  those  who 
solicit  alms  are  either  lazy  or  vicious,  and  if 
from  compassion  you  give  them  money  without 
examination,  it  is  rather  an  injury  than  a  ben- 
efit.' He  did  not  lend  money,  for  that,  he 
said,  is  the  way  to  lose  it ;  and  besides,  he 
added,  '  I  want  my  money  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  travelling  and  printing.'  When  Shear- 
smith,  his  landlord,  presented  his  bills,  Swe- 
denborg used  to  send  him  to  his  drawer  to 
pay  himself;  a  careless-looking  mode,  but 
clairvoyant  people  know  of  course  with  whom 
they  have  to  deal. 

Habits  and  Manners. 

451.  "  His  manners  were  those  of  a  noble- 
man and  gentleman  of  the  last  century.  He 
was  somewhat  reserved,  but  complaisant ;  ac- 
cessible to  all,  and  had  something  very  loving 
and  taking  in  his  demeanor.  Personally  he 
left  good  impressions  behind  him  wherever  he 
appeared. 

452.  •'  His  labors  during  the  sixty-three 
years  of  his  authorship,  were  of  a  surprising 
magnitude  :  we  may  estimate  that  his  volumes 
would  make  about  sixty  octavos  of  five  hun-^ 
dred  pages  each  in  English.  About  forty  of 
these  are  already  translated,  and  many  of 
them  have  gone  through  numerous  editions  in 
England  and  America.  When  it  is  remem- 
bered that  his  works  consist  almost  entirely 
of  the  deepest  analysis,  or  treat  upon  the  high- 
est subjects,  the  quantity  which  issued  from  his 
pen  becomes  still  more  astonishing.  There  is 
indeed  a  vast  amount  of  repetition  in  his  books, 
for  as  beseemed  a  teacher,  he  professed  repe- 
tition, and  was  careless  of  artistic  effect.  But 
with  all  deductions,  his  quantity  does  not 
greatly  exceed  his  quality. 

453.  "  He  made  use  of  no  amanuensis  for 
his  books,  but  was  self-helping  as  well  as  self- 
contained  throughout.  From  the  beginning 
of  his  theological  mission,  he  framed  indexes 
or  rather  digests  of  what  he  wrote,  whereby 
he  was  enabled  to  refer  from  part  to  part  of 
his  extensive  manuscripts.  These  indexes 
are  models  of  compression  and  arrangement, 
and  are  themselves  large  and  readable  vol- 
umes. They  show  at  a  glance  what  a  crowd 
of  '  capital  aphorisms '  there  is  in  his  works, 
and  how  impossible  it  is  to  give  an  exhaustive 
statement  of  them  in  a  short  compass.  In  his 
latter  years,  the  Bible  in  various  languages, 
was  his  whole  library. 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


]11 


Editions  of  the  Bible  made  Use  of  by  Swe- 
denborg. 

454.  "  We  have  seen  above,  that  after  Sweden- 
borg's  spiritual  illumination  had  commenced  he  ap- 
plied himself  exclusively  to  the  study  of  the  Word, 
both  as  to  its  letter,  in  the  Hebrew  text,  and  as  to 
its  '  spirit  and  its  life,''  or  as  to  that  spiritual  sense 
which  he  demonstrates  as  existing  in  every  part  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  It  may  be  interesting  to  the 
present  as  well  a^  to  the  future  generations,  to 
know  the  different  editions  of  the  Bible  which  he 
made  use  of  This  information  is  contained  in  the 
JVew  Jerusalem  Magazine  for  17i»0,  p.  87,  where  we 
read  as  follows :  — 

"'Swedenborg  possessed  four  editions  of  the 
Holy  Bible  in  Hebrew  :  — 

"  '  I.  That  by  T.  Pagnini  Montani,  containing  fol. 
1657,  in  which  he  made  no  remarks  in  the  margin, 
as  I  was  informed  by  the  person  who  bought  it  at 
his  sale. 

"  '  II.  Biblia  Hebraica  piinctata,  cnm  JSJ'ovo  Tes- 
lamento  Grtrco,  8vo.  of  the  edition  of  Manasse  Ben 
Israel,  1639,  Amsterdam.  This  was  also  without 
remarks. 

"'III.  Reineccii  Bibl.  Hebr.  Lipsirp,  1739,  4to. 
This  I  have  happily  found ;  it  is  tilled  with  re- 
marks, and  with  the  Latin  translation  of  several 
Hebrew  words,  as  also  some  observations  on  the 
internal  sense.  The  book  is  much  used.  I  shall 
add  it  to  the  collection  of  manuscripts. 

"'IV.  Bibl.  Hebr.  secundem'Edit.  Belgii  Edvar- 
di  Vande.r  Hooght,  cum  versione  Latina  Sebastiani 
Schmid'i ;  Lipsin-,  1740,  4to.  This  book  was  given 
to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ferelius  of  Schofde,  for  interring 
him  at  London,  where  he  then  was  minister  to  the 
Swedish  chapel.  There  is  no  remark  in  the  margin, 
but  a  great  number  of  lines  and  asterisks,  at  the  most 
remarkable  places  of  the  Latin  version,  the  origi- 
nal text  not  being  in  any  manner  touched ;  be- 
cause, according  to  the  expression  of  Swedenborg, 
"  The  Word  is  perfect,  such  as  we  have  it."  Of 
the  New  Testament  in  Greek,  he  had  none  besides 
that  mentioned.  No.  II.,  and  which  is  a  fresh  edition 
of  that  by  Elzevir  in  1624,  made  by  Janson,  and 
the  edition  of  Leusden,  Amsterdam,  1741,  with 
the  Latin  version.  It  is  probable  he  has  followed 
this  edition  in  translating  the  Apocalypse. 

" '  Of  the  Latin  translations  of  the  Bible,  he 
chiefly  made  use  of  that  by  Schmidius,  Lipsise, 
1740,  after  the  time  that  he  began  the  Jlrcana  Cce- 
lestia,  because  he  found  this  to  be  more  literal  and 
exact  than  all  the  others.  Nevertheless,  in  all  his 
quotations,  and  above  all  in  the  .Arcana  Calestia, 
he  has  more  exactly  expressed  the  sense  accord- 
ing to  the  original  language.  He  has  never  fol- 
lowed the  version  of  Arius  Montanus,  either  of  the 
Old  or  New  Testament,  as  I  have  carefully  exam- 
ined and  found  to  be  the  case.  But  he  had  four 
2opies  of  the  Latin  translation  of  Castillis,  apparent- 
ly for  the  purity  of  the  language,  which  he  was  very 
studiously  applying  himself  to,  before  he  learned 
Hebrew  in  1745.  In  his  quotations  of  the  New 
Testament,  he  only  made  use  of  the  translation  of 
Schmidius,  first  edition,  which  he  sometimes  has 
'.eft,  the  better  to  express  the  sense  of  the  Greek. 
From  this  it  appears,  that  he  always  had  the  origi- 
nals at  hand.  But  with  respect  to  the  author's  trans- 
lations of  Genesis,  Exodus,  and  the  Apocalypse, 
they  are  directly  translated  from  the  originals.'  "  * 


»  "  We  wish  to  observe  tliat  Swedenborg  required  the  abso- 
lute literal  sense  of  Scripture  as  the  basis  of  UU  spiritual  inter- 
pretati<ui,  and  as  the  Latin  ver.-ion  of  Schmidius  was  in  ttiis  re- 
spect the  most  complete  of  any  in  existence,  being  an  improve- 
ment on  the  literal  version  vf  -Monlanus,  he   piellrred  it,  and  in 


45o.  It  ought  to  be  remarked,  however, 
that  most  of  his  spiritual  writings  abound  with 
errors  of  the  press,  which  evil  arose,  as  Swe- 
denborg assures  his  friend  Robsahm,  from  the 
circumstance  that  the  printer  also  undertook 
the  ofhce  of  corrector.  This  will  explain 
some  things  which  have  appeared  to  many  as 
discrepancies  or  obscurities  in  his  writings. 
The  errors  of  translators  will  account  for 
many  more. 

Character. 
45G.  It  is  well  remarked  by  Wilkinson,  in 
summing  up  the  character  of  Swedenborg, 
that  "  the  upper  parts  of  it  rose  from  the 
groundwork  of  excellent  citizenship  and  social 
qualities.  Naturally  inoffensive  and  conserva- 
tive, he  was  at  one  with  the  general  polity, 
and  never  dreamed  of  innovations  that  should 
interfere  with  the  moral  basis  of  the  state. 
P^ven  his  theology  was  referable,  in  his  view, 
to  an  existing  authority  in  the  Bible,  and  in 
harmony  with  the  earliest  creeds  of  the  church, 
so  far  as  they  went.  He  lent  himself  freely  to 
his  family  ties,  but  never  allowed  them  to  inter- 
rupt his  justice.  As  a  friend  he  was  stanch  and 
equally  independent.  The  sentiment  of  duty 
ruled  him  without  appeal  in  his  public  as  in 
his  private  affairs  :  he  had  no  acquaintances 
but  society  and  his  country  when  their  inter- 
ests were  involved.  In  disseminating  his  re- 
ligious ideas,  he  was  open  and  above  board : 
placed  his  books  within  the  reach  of  the  Chris- 
tian world,  and  there  left  them,  to  Providence 
and  the  readers.  By  no  trick  did  he  ever 
seek  to  force  attention,  and  intrigue  had  no 
part  in  his  character.  Notwithstanding  hi.s 
attachment  to  his  first  admirers,  he  kept  his 
own  space  around  him,  and  was  not  impeded 
by  any  followers.  Tender  and  amicable  in 
his  nature,  he  was  always  distant  enough  to 
have  that  large  arm's  length  that  so  peculiar 
a  workman  required.  Ambition  he  must 
have  had  in  some  sense,  but  so  transpierced 
and  smitten  with  zeal  for  his  fellows,  that  we 
can  only  call  it,  public  love.  The  power  of 
order  and  combination,  is  a  main  feature  in 
his  capacious  intellect ;  those  who  open  him 
as  a  visionary,  are  struck  with  the  masculine 
connection  which  he  every  where  displays. 
His  sensual  nature  was  evidently  an  obedient 
though  a  powerful  vehicle  to  his  mind.  He 
was  perfectly  courageous  in  that  kind  that  his 
mission  needed  ;  firm,  but  unobtrusive,  in  all 
courts  and  companies,  and  ever  bending  whith- 
er his  conscience  prescribed.  Religion  was 
the  mild  element  that  governed  the  rest,  con- 
verting them  past  their  own  natures  by  its 
lively  flames,  and  he  walked  with  the  constant 
sentiment  of  God  between  him  and  his  fellows, 
giving    and    receiving    dignity   among    God's 


his  verj-  numerous  quotations  from  the  Word,  especially  in  the 
Apocalypse  Explained,  seldom  departs  from  the  version  of 
Schmidius,  unless  to  render  the  Hebrew  text  still  -nr«  •iiithfully 
ard  literallv." 


112 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


children.  His  life  indeed  is  not  heroic  in  the 
old  fashion,  but  take  his  own  account  of  it, 
and  he  has  travelled  far  and  perilled  much : 
he  has  seen  and  been  what  would  bleach  the 
lips  of  heroes.  Whether  you  receive  his  ac- 
count or  not,  you  must  own  that  his  structure 
was  heroic,  for  how  otherwise  could  he  have 
outlived  those  tremendous  '  fancies  '  of  heaven 
and  hell.  But  let  that  pass,  and  we  still  claim 
him  as  a  hero  in  the  new  campaign  of  peace. 
The  first  P>pic  of  the  Study  is  the  song  that 
will  celebrate  him.  There  are  many  simple 
problems,  but  how  few  dare  face  them  :  it  is 
more  difficult  to  be  courageous  there  than  be- 
fore batteries  of  cannon  :  it  is  more  impossible 
to  the  most  to  lead  the  forlorn  hopes  of  thought, 
discouraged  since  history  began,  to  victory, 
than  to  mount  tbe  scaling  ladder  in  the  immi- 
nent deadly  breach.  To  do  the  one  requires 
only  command  of  body  ;  to  perform  the  other 
needs  courage  over  the  brain  itself ;  fighting 
against  organism  and  stupidity  older  and  more 
terrifying  than  armies.  Select  your  problem, 
and  ask  the  world  round  who  will  besiege  it 
until  it  cedes  the  truth,  and  you  soon  find  that 
of  all  the  soldiers  there  is  none  who  does  not 
straightway  show  fatigue  and  sob  impossible, 
■which  are  cowardice  under  its  literary  name. 
In  these  ages  there  has  been  no  man  who 
stood  up  so  manfully  to  his  problems  as  Swe- 
denborg,  who  wielded  his  own  brains  so  like  a 
spirit,  or  knew  so  experimentally  that  labor 
rises  over  death.  Therefore  we  name  him 
Leader  of  the  world's  free  thought  and  free 
press  ;  the  Captain  of  the  heroes  of  the  writing 
desk. —  Wilkinson's  Biography,  pp.  245-247. 


PART    IV. 

Concluding  Reflections. 

457.  '  In  drawing  this  Memoir  to  a  close, 
we  are  led  to  observe  that  the  world  is  at  this 
instant  reaping  a  manifold  harvest  from  the 
works  of  Swedenborg,  without  knowing,  per- 
haps, into  whose  labor  it  has  entered.  The 
walls  of  a  new  school  are  also  rising  up  among 
the  ruins  of  ages,  and  many  are  helping  to 
make  them  high  and  strong  who  have  never 
comprehended  either  the  plan  or  the  founda- 
tion ;  each  working  at  his  own  chosen  task,  and 
overruled  by  a  mysterious  intelligence  which 
elaborates  the  unity  of  the  whole  in  silence 
and  darkness." 

458.  There  are  some,  however,  who  will  be 
disposed  to  exclaim,  in  reference  to  the  pro- 
fessions made  by  Swedenborg  and  his  friends, 
"  Is  your  Swedenborgian  Church  a  new  sect 
in  the  Protestant  community,  set  up  as  the 
fulfilment  of  prophecy  "  !  On  this  point  there 
is  much  misapprehension  abroad.  "  The  New 
Jerusalem,  Swedenborg  says,  is  formed  of  those 
who  worship  the  Lord  and  do  the  work  of  re- 
pentance by  shunning  evils  as  sins,  and  conse- 
quently it  is  formed  gradually,  throughout  all 


Christendom,  as  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
Faith  alone  is  extirpated.  Who  then  shall 
say  that  this  Divine  Church  is  limited  to  those 
who  assemble  in  their  places  of  worship,  and 
who  do  so  because  they  understand  each  oth- 
er and  have  sympathies  in  common  ?  Such 
Ecclesias  avowedly  constitute  but  one  phasis 
of  the  Church ;  their  providential  use  is  to 
diffuse  its  truths,  and  eventually,  perhaps,  to 
inaugurate  its  order  as  an  institution ;  the 
while  its  universal  body  is  growing  in  all  lands, 
and  its  members  marching  from  every  point  of 
the  compass  under  a  variety  of  banners.  '  Lift 
up  thine  eyes  round  about,  and  see,'  exclaims 
the  Prophet,  '  all  they  gather  themselves  to- 
gether, they  come  to  thee.  .  .  .  Thus 
saith  Adonai  Jehovih,  Behold,  I  will  lift  up 
my  hand  to  the  Gentiles,  and  set  up  my  stan- 
dard to  the  people :  and  they  shall  bring  thy 
sons  in  their  arms,  and  thy  daughters  shall  be 
carried  on  their  shoulders.  .  .  •  There- 
fore thy  gates  shall  be  open  continually  ;  they 
shall  not  be  shut  day  nor  night ;  that  men 
may  bring  into  thee  the  forces  of  the  Gentiles, 
and  that  their  kings  may  be  brought.'  Isaiah 
xlix,  Ix.  The  receivers  of  Swedenborg's 
writings  are  well  a.ware  that  it  would  be  foolish 
to  apply  such  prophecies  to  a  mere  organiza- 
tion of  religious  societies,  and  their  assemblies 
in  meeting  houses  ;  but  they  know,  at  the  same 
time,  that  they  apply  in  all  fulness  both  of  the 
letter  and  the  spirit,  to  the  New  Church. 

459.  "  The  New  Church,  therefore,  accord- 
ing to  Swedenborg,  is  a  new  dispensation  of 
all  that  is  good  and  true,  and  cannot  be  pro- 
nounced, any  more  than  it  can  be  made,  secta- 
rian, without  a  violation  of  its  attributes.  As 
an  Institution  it  doubtless  claims  to  be  emi- 
nently spiritual  in  its  operation,  but  as  an  in- 
tellectual and  moral  force  it  connects  religion 
with  every  human  interest.  While,  therefore, 
its  particular  object  is  to  change  the  whole 
man  by  regeneration,  and  make  him  the  child 
of  God,  its  general  object  is  to  evangelize  the 
world  and  bring  it  into  correspondence  with 
the  order  of  heaven.  Swedenborg  has  no- 
where prescribed  any  organization  of  the 
Church."  —  ^icA's  Sketch,  pp.  189-192. 

Qualifications  for  his  sacred  OlBfice. 

460.  Swedenborg's  qualifications,  both  moral 
and  intellectual,  for  such  an  office  as  it  is  claimed 
he  has  been  elected  to,  it  is  well  remarked. 
"  were  such  as  all  must  allow  to  be  appropri- 
ate in  the  highest  degree.  In  him  were  united 
the  utmost  integrity,  piety,  and  innocence  of 
manners,  with  the  most  comprehensive  under- 
standing and  most  extensive  attainments  in 
knowledge.  The  former  excellences,  it  will 
generally  be  admitted,  were  necessary  to  pre- 
pare him  for  his  office  at  all ;  and  without  the 
latter,  it  will  easily  be  seen,  he  could  not  have 
discharged  it  with  effect.  He  stands  not  in  the 
character  of  a  new  prophet,  in  the  sense  usually 
applied  to  that  term,  and  as  he  has  sometimes 


LIFE    AND    WHITINGS    OF    EMANUEL    SWEDENRORG. 


113 


been  denominatccl  in  derision  ;  nor  in  that  of  a 
writer  of"  additions  to  the  Word  of  God,  as  he 
has  also  been  maliciously  represented.  The 
Lord  engages,  at  his  second  coming,  to  appear 
*in  the  clouds  of  heaven.'  —  or  in  the  outward 
covering  of  his  Word,  which  is  its  literal  sense, 
—  'with  power  and  great  glory,'  —  with  the 
full  evidence  and  clear  brilliancy  of  the  genu- 
ine trutii  of  his  Word,  to  which  the  letter  is 
the  covering.  Tliis  could  not  have  been  ac- 
complished by  sending  a  prophet,  again  to 
speak  in  the  enigmatical,  and  never,  without 
special  illumination,  clearly  understood  lan- 
guage of  prophecy  ;  but  only  by  raising  up  a 
teacher,  who,  under  the  influence  of  divine 
guidance  and  illumination,  should  be  able  to 
see  in  the  Scriptures,  and  to  comprehend  in 
his  own  mind,  the  sublime  truths  he  was  to 
teach,  and  to  communicate  them  in  a  manner 
suited  to  their  depth  and  importance.  Hence 
the  necessity  that  the  Human  Instrument 
made  choice  of  on  this  occasion  should  be  a  man 
of  learning.  Something  similar  occurred  at 
the  first  promulgation  of  Christianity  :  for  the 
apostles  were  not  all  ignorant  men.  To  dif- 
fuse the  knowledge  of  the  gospel  among  the 
Jews,  i)ersons  possessing  nothing  beyond  com- 
mon Jewish  attainments,  but  guided  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  were  competent:  but  when  'a 
chosen  vessel '  was  required  '  to  bear  the 
Lord's  name  before  the  Gentiles,  and  kings, 
and  to  the  children  of  Israel'  scattered  among 
the  Gentiles,  —  to  carry  the  gospel  to  the 
learned  and  polished  nations  of  those  times, — 
a  man  was  miraculously  called  to  the  work, 
who,  having  been  born  and  long  resident  at 
Tarsus,  a  polite  Grecian  city,  was  as  much 
skilled  in  the  learning  of  the  Greeks,  as,  by 
having  been  brought  up  at  the  feet  of  Gama- 
liel, he  was  versed  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Jews. 
Much  more  was  it  necessary  that,  in  this  age 
of  the  general  diffusion  of  natural  knowl- 
edge, the  Human  Instrument  for  first  commu- 
nicating the  truths  to  be  made  known  at  the 
Lord's  second  coming,  should  stand  upon  a 
par  with  the  first  of  his  contemporaries  in  sci- 
entific attainment ;  especially  as,  while  all  the 
general  doctrines  he  was  to  unfold  were  to  be 
far  more  clear,  and  more  easily  intelligible, 
than  those  commonly  received  at  present  as 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  some  of  the 
truths  to  be  discovered  were  to  be  of  the  most 
profound  kind,  requiring  for  their  full  devel- 
opment the  highest  talent  for  abstruse  investi- 
gation, and  for  their  perfect  comprehension 
the  most  exalted  powers  of  the  best  cultivated 
mind. 

461.  "In  Swedenborg,  every  requisite  gift 
was  centred.  Well  imbued,  first  under  the 
tuition  of  his  learned  father,  and  then  at  the 
University  of  Upsal,  with  all  the  usual  ele- 
ments of  a  learned  education,  he  for  a  time 
cultivated  classical  literature  with  diligence 
and  success.  He  then  applied  himself  to  the 
most  solid  and  certain  of  the  natural  sciences, 
15 


and  not  only  by  dom<'stic  study  and  liy  corre- 
spondence with  foreign  literati,  but  by  repeat- 
ed travels  in  all  the  scicntKically  enlightened 
parts  of  Europe,  —  in  (ierniany,  Italy,  France, 
Holland,  and  England,  —  he  made  himself 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  all  the  knowledge 
of  his  time,  and  was  admitted,  by  general  con- 
sent, to  a  station  among  the  first  philosophers 
of  the  age.  As,  in  the  midst  of  the  distinc- 
tions with  which  he  was  honored  by  his  com- 
peers in  learning  and  by  sovereign  princes,  he 
never  forgot  for  a  moment  his  original  piety 
and  modesty,  —  his  scientific  writings  con- 
stantly breathing  the  humble  and  devotional 
spirit  of  a  true  Christian  philosopher,  —  the 
acquisitions  he  made  in  natural  science  must 
be  acknowledged  to  have  fonned  an  admirable 
preparation,  and  a  most  suitable  basis,  for  the 
apprehension  and  explication  of  the  spiritual 
truths  which  he  was  to  be  the  Instrument  for 
unfolding.  Between  the  book  of  nature,  read 
by  the  eye  of  humble  intelligence,  and  the 
Word  of  God,  every  one  intuitively  perceives 
there  must  be  an  exact  agreement ;  and  spir- 
itual views  can  never  be  so  little  likely  to  par- 
take of  delusion,  as  when  they  take  for  their 
foundation  a  copious  store  of  sound  natural 
science.  An  extensive  acquaintance  with  the 
knowledge  of  God  in  his  works,  must  be  the 
best  preparation  for  a  superior  perception  of 
the  knowledge  of  God  in  his  Word :  and  by 
the  former  was  Swedenborg  eminently  dis- 
tinguished." 

462.  But  it  is,  after  all,  in  the  interior  evi- 
dence of  his  writings,  that  the  great  question 
must  finally  be  settled.  "  I  am  indeed  satis- 
fied," says  Mr.  Noble,  "  that  a  most  convincing 
work  might  be  written  on  the  Internal  Evi- 
dence which  the  writings  of  Swedenborg  bear 
to  their  own  truth  :  and  this  not  only  in  the 
great  and  leading  doctrines  which  they  deliver, 
and  which  they  so  scripturally  and  rationally 
establish,  but  in  innumerable  more  minute 
points,  in  which  they  speak  to  the  heart,  and 
experience,  and  best  intelligence,  of  man. 
There  is  no  subject  of  which  they  treat  that 
they  do  not  lay  open  in  a  deeper  ground  than 
is  done  by  any  other  author :  in  particular, 
they  discover  so  profoundly  and  distinctly  the 
inward  operations,  the  interior  workings,  of 
the  human  heart  and  mind,  and  unveil  man  so 
fully  to  himself,  that  no  person  of  reflection  can 
attentively  peruse  them,  without  feeling  a  moni- 
tor in  his  own  breast  continually  responding  to 
their  truth."  —  Noble's  Appeal,  pp.  198-20J 

Testimony  of  Oberlin. 

463.  While  upon  this  subject  of  interior 
evidence,  we  cannot  refrain  from  a  most  inter- 
esting testimony  to  the  importance  and  value 
of  Swedenborg's  writings,  which  is  to  be  found 
in  the  experience  and  practice  of  the  celebrated 
Oberlin.  Distinguished  as  he  is  for  his  labors 
of  love  and  heavenly  philanthropy,  we  can  but 
regard  it  as  a  rich  and  lasting  testimony  to 


114 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


the  truths  of  the  New  Church,  to  have  .so  full 
an  account  from  such  a  man.  This  testimony 
is  recorded  in  the  *'  Intellectual  Repository " 
for  April,  1840,  in  a  visit  which  the  Rev.  J. 
H.  Sraithson  paid  to  the  worthy  jihilanthro- 
pist  and  Christian,  two  years  prior  to  his  death. 
After  .some  previous  conversation,  Mr.  8.  pro- 
coeds  as  follows  :  — 

464.  '*  I  now  prepared  myself  to  converse 
with  him  on  thinfjs  of  a  more  exalted  character 
—  on  his  manner  of  perceiving  the  truths  of 
the  Word,  as  well  as  his  conceptions  respecting 
the  realities  of  heaven,  and  the  spiritual  stjlte 
of  man  in  general.  I  at  once  asked  him 
whetlier  he  had  read  any  of  the  works  of  Swe- 
denborg  ?  Without  replying,  he  immediately 
i-eached  a  book,  and  clapping  his  hand  upon 
it.  expressive  of  great  satisfaction,  told  me, 
that  he  had  had  this  treasure  many  years  in 
his  library,  and  that  he  knsw  from  his  own 
experience  that  every  thing  related  in  it  was 
true.  This  treasure  was  Swedenborg's  work 
On  Heaven  and  Hell.  As  I  had  lately  become 
acquainted  with  the  theological  writings  of  the 
enlightened  Swedenborg,  and  as  Oberlin  was 
almost  the  only  person  I  had  met  with  who 
had  any  knowledge  of  those  writings,  I  was, 
of  course,  highly  delighted  to  meet  with  a 
man,  whose  name  was  universally  honored, 
and  whose  life  and  character  were  considered 
as  a  bright  example  of  every  Christian  virtue. 
The  great  weight  which  accompanied  the 
name  of  this  good  man,  and  the  approving 
declaration  he  had  already  made  respecting 
one  of  the  most  important  works  of  Sweden- 
borg, materially  strengthened  my  convictions 
of  the  truth  of  his  claims  to  universal  atten- 
tion. I  accordingly  felt  the  deepest  interest 
in  conversing  with  Oberlin  on  the  subject  of 
Swedenborg's  theology,  and  the  amazing  spir- 
itual intelligence  displayed  in  his  writings, 
and  inquired  how  it  had  happened,  that  he  had 
arrived  at  convictions  so  solid  respecting  the 
facte  and  truths  contained  in  the  work  On 
Heaven  and  Hell.  He  replied,  that  when  he 
first  came  to  reside  as  a  pastor  among  the  in- 
,  habitants  of  Steinthal,  they  had  many  super- 
stitious notions  respecting  the  proximity  of  the 
spiritual  world,  and  of  tiie  appearance  of  vari- 
ous objects  and  phenomena  in  that  world 
which,  from  time  to  time,  were  seen  by  some 
of  the  people  belonging  to  his  flock.  For  in- 
stance, it  was  not  unusual  for  a  person  who 
had  died  to  appear  to  some  individual  in  the 
valley.  This  gift  of  second  sight,  or  the  open- 
ing of  the  spiritual  sight,  to  see  objects  in  a 
spiritual  state  of  existence,  was,  however,  con- 
fined to  a  few  jjcrsons,  and  continued  but  a 
short  period,  and  at  different  intervals,  of  time. 
The  report  of  every  new  occurrence  of  this 
kind  was  brought  to  Oberlin,  who  at  length 
became  so  much  annoyed,  that  he  was  resolved 
to  put  down  this  species  of  superstition,  as  he 
called  it,  from  the  pulpit,  and  exerted  himself 
for  a  considerable  time  to  this  end,  but  with 


little  or  no  desirable  effect.  Cases  became 
more  numerous,  and  the  circumstances  so 
striking  as  even  to  stagger  the  scepticism  of 
Oberlin  himself.  About  this  time,  being  on  a 
visit  at  Strasburg,  he  met  with  the  work  On 
Heai'en  and  Hell,  which  a  friend  recommended 
him  to  peruse.  This  work,  as  he  informed  me, 
gave  him  a  full  and  satisfactory  explanation  of 
the  extraordinary  cases  occurring  in  his  valley, 
and  which  he  himself  was,  at  length,  from  evi- 
dences which  could  not  be  doubted,  constrained 
to  admit.  The  satisfactory  solution  of  these 
extraordinary  cases  afforded  great  pleasure  to 
his  mind,  and  he  read  the  '  treasure,'  as  he 
called  it,  very  attentively,  and  with  increasing 
delight.  He  no  longer  doubted  in  the  near-  ■ 
ness  of  the  spiritual  world;  yea,  he  believed 
that  man,  by  virtue  of  his  better  part  —  his 
immortal  mind  —  is  already  an  inhabitant  of 
the  spiritual  world,  in  which,  after  the  death 
of  the  material  body,  he  is  to  continue  his  ex- 
istence foi-ever.  He  plainly  saw  from  the 
correspondent  relation  existing  between  the 
two  worlds,  that  when  it  pleased  the  Lord, 
man  might  easily  be  placed,  by  opening  his 
spiritual  senses,  in  open  communication  with 
the  world  of  spirits.  This,  he  observed,  was 
frequently  the  case  with  the  seers  mentioned  in 
the  Old  Testament ;  and  why  might  it  not  be 
so  now,  if  the  divine  Providence  saw  fit,  in 
order  to  instruct  mankind  more  fully  in  re- 
spect to  their  relation  to  a  spiritual  state  of 
existence,  and  to  replenish  their  minds  with 
more  accurate  and  copious  views  respecting 
heaven,  the  final  home  of  the  good,  and  hell, 
the  final  abode  of  the  wicked. 

465.  "  This  conversation  of  Oberlin's  seemed 
highly  reasonable  and  delightful ;  and  I  in- 
quired further,  by  what  means  he  had  arrived 
at  convictions  so  solid  respecting  the  truth  of 
vSwedenborg's  statements  and  descriptions  con- 
cerning the  world  of  spirits,  and  heaven  and 
hell.  He  replied,  that  he  himself  had  had 
ocular  and  demonstrative  experience  respect- 
ing these  important  subjects,  and  that,  strange 
to  say,  he  had  come  into  that  state  of  open 
communion  with  the  world  of  spirits,  which  he 
had  formerly  considered  as  a  rank  species  of 
superstition,  and  which  he  had  endeavored  to 
extirpate  from  the  valley.  He  observed,  that 
the  inhabitants  of  that  mountainous  district  had 
always  been  notorious  for  this  peculiar  kind 
of  spiritual  experience,  and  in  this  respect 
much  resembled  the  highlanders  of  Scotland, 
of  whom  he  had  heard  and  read  similar  ac- 
counts. He,  therefore,  could  readily  under- 
stand Swedenborg's  case,  who,  for  most  useful 
and  salutary  purposes,  was  mercifully  permit- 
ted to  enjoy  an  open  intercourse  with  the 
world  of  spirits,  during  so  many  years  of  his 
life,  in  order  to  instruct  mankind  in  respect  to 
subjects  of  the  greatest  moment  to  wisdom 
and  happiness,  and  of  which  they  are  so  de- 
plorably ignorant :  with  regard  to  himself, 
however,  he  had  only  had  glimpses,  as  it  were, 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


115 


into  the  spiritual  world,  whicli  continued  only 
for  short  periods,  and  at  distant  intervals;  and 
if  he  had  not  road  Swodenhorfr's  work,  he 
could  not  rationally  and  satisfactorily  have  ex- 
plained to  himself  the  various  objects  and 
phenomena  he  had  beheld. 

46G.  "  From  this  time,  he  observed,  he  ceased 
to  manifest  his  opposition  against  the  '  super- 
stition '  in  question,  and  endeavored,  when 
any  thing  occurred,  to  turn  it  to  the  instruc- 
tion and  edification  of  his  people.  He  care- 
fully wrote  down  every  occurrence,  and  drew 
from  it  some  salutary  instruction,  which  either 
warned  his  flock  against  evil,  or  encouraged 
them  in  goodness  and  virtue.  He  said  that  he 
had  a  large  pile  of  papers,  which  he  had  writ- 
ten on  this  kind  of  spiritual  phenomena,  con- 
taining the  facts,  with  his  own  reflections  upon 
them.  One  of  these  occurrences  I  can  here  re- 
late. In  the  year  180G,  a. tremendous  convul- 
sion of  nature  occurred  in  Switzerland,  which 
deeply  moved  the  whole  of  Eurojje :  it  was  the 
fall  of  the  Rossberg,  a  great  mountain,  which 
suddenly  fell,  and  buried  several  villages  un- 
der it.s  ruins.  This  catastrophe  excited  the 
greatest  consternation  throughout  the  whole 
surrounding  country,  and  deeply  affected  Ober- 
lin  and  the  people  of  Steinthal.  As  it  was 
customary  in  cases  of  deep  excitement  for 
some  person  or  other  in  the  valley  to  become 
clairvoyant,  that  is,  to  have  their  spiritual 
vision  opened  ;  so  in  this  case,  several  individ- 
uals became  clairvoyant,  and  the  unfortunate 
people  who  had  been  destroyed  by  the  moun- 
tain, were  seen  in  the  world  of  spirits.  They 
appeared,  said  Oberlin,  in  places  very  similar 
to  those  they  had  left  in  the  natural  world, 
and  associated  together,  as  they  had  been  ac- 
customed to  do,  but  by  degrees  they  separated 
from  each  other,  and  were  associated  accord- 
ing to  their  moral  worth.  This  account,  Ober- 
lin observed,  was  in  agreement  with  what 
Swedenborg  says  respecting  the  state  of  man 
immediately  after  his  departure  from  this 
world  ;  and  likewise  respecting  what  he  states 
in  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  spirits  asso- 
ciate together,  or  constitute  societies  ;  for  all 
are  there  arranged  according  '  to  their  moral 
worth,'  —  those  who  are  good,  and,  in  similar 
affections,  constitute  heavenly  societies,  and 
those  who  are  evil,  and  in  similar  malignant 
dispositions,  form  infernal  societies. 

467.  "  So  convinced  was  Oberlin  of  the  sal- 
utary importance  of  teaching  his  flock  respect- 
ing heaven  and  hell,  and  the  correspondent 
relation  which  man  sustains  to  the  spiritual 
worid,  that  he  formed  a  chart,  or  map,  repre- 
senting heaven,  which  he  hunguj)  in  his  church. 
This  celestial  diagram,  as  it  was  called,  was 
taken  from  Solomon's  temple,  which,  in  all 
respects  corresponded  to  heaven.  These  cor- 
respondences Oberlin  had  derived  from  Swe- 
denborg, and  he  pointed  out  to  his  fiock,  that 
according  to  their  humility,  piety,  fidelity, 
and  theii-  love  of  being  useful  to  each  other, 


would  be  their  elevation  in  the  Lord's  king- 
dom, either  to  the  first,  second,  or  third  heaven. 
Ilis  flock  were  extremely  delighted  to  hear 
his  remarks  concerning  heaven  ;  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  exf)lained  to  them  how  the 
love  of  the  Lord  above  all  things,  and  the  love 
of  our  neighbor  even  better  than  ourselves, 
constitutes  the  life  and  soul  of  the  heavenly 
kingdom,  served,  no  doubt,  to  kindle  that  ce- 
lestial fire  of  mutual  love  amongst  his  people, 
which  made  them  'a  bright  and  shining  light 
to  all  around  them.  For  the  numerous  in- 
stances of  remarkable  self-denial,  of  benevo- 
lence to  the  orphan,  widow,  and  stranger ;  of 
liberal  contributions  from  their  scanty  means 
to  procure  Bibles  for  those  in  the  surrounding 
districts,  that  did  not  possess  the  Word  of 
God,  and  to  purchase  articles  of  clothing,  and 
implements  of  use  for  those  who  were  destitute, 
and  not  able  to  work  for  the  want  of  necessa- 
ry means  :  these  facts,  I  repeat,  when  consid- 
ered in  connection  with  the  general  exemption 
from  vice  and  crime,  were  striking  proofs  of 
something  like  that  genuine  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  has  seldom  been  witnessed  upon 
earth,  but  which,  as  the  New  Jerusalem  Church 
advances,  will  not  be  so  great  a  stranger 
amongst  men. 

468.  "  From  seeing,  as  explained  by  Swe- 
denborg, that  the  Lord's  kingdom  is  a  king- 
dom of  uses,  Oberlin  resolved  all  the  exertions 
and  operations  of  his  life  into  one  element  — 
USE.  He  taught  his  people,  that  to  be  useful, 
and  to  shun  all  evil  as  sin  against  the  Lord, 
in  being  useful,  is  the  truly  heavenly  life.  On 
this  account,  when  his  flock  assembled  in  the 
church  on  the  week  day,  to  hear  from  their 
beloved  pastor  some  instructive  and  edifying 
discourse,  the  females  brought  with  them  their 
knitting,  needlework,  and  platting,  and  thus 
worked  with  their  hands,  whilst  their  minds 
were  being  instructed  in  various  kinds  of  use- 
ful knowledge.  His  discourse  on  some  week- 
day evening  was  not  exclusively  theological 
and  religious,  although  religion  was  blended 
with  every  thing  he  said ;  but  it  frequently 
conveyed  some  eminently  practical  ideas  on 
the  various  useful  arts  of  common  life.  These 
useful  ideas  on  the  concerns  of  ordinary  life 
were  always  connected  with  something  heav- 
enly, and  ascribed  to  the  goodness  of  our 
heavenly  Father  ;  in  this  manner  Oberlin  con- 
nected the  concerns  of  earth  with  the  realities 
of  heaven,  and  brought  down  a  celestial  influ- 
ence into  the  common  duties  of  life. 

469.  "The  day  after  my  arrival  w^as  thi- 
Sabbath,  and  I  anticipated  much  pleasure  in 
hearing  the  venerable  pastor  address  his  flock. 
He  preached  in  French  ;  his  discourse  wa:» 
characterized  by  simplicity  and  warmth.  He 
almost  invariably  called  Jesus  his  heavenly- 
Father,  which  struck  many  as  a  peculiarity 
not  common  with  Christians  in  general,  but  I 
well  knew  how  he  had  contracted  this  habit 
of  addressing  the  object  of  his  supreme  love 


116 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


and  worship.  From  the  work  On  Heaven  and 
Hell,  he  had  clearly  seen,  that  no  other  is  ac- 
knowledged throughout  heaven  as  the  Divine 
Father  than  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  alone,  for 
'Ae  that  seeth  him  seeth  the  Father'  The 
church  was  full,  and  humility  and  devotion 
seemed  impressed  upon  every  countenance. 
He  addressed  them  like  a  father  addressing  his 
children,  and  often  called  them  his  chers  en- 
fants,  —  his  beloved  children.  He  said  he 
had  baptized  nearly  all  of  them,  and,  as  in- 
fants, had  taken  them  in  his  arms  ;  and  they, 
when  the  service  was  over,  assembled  around 
him,  and  called  him  papa,  inquiring  after  the 
health  of  himself  and  his  family.  They  also 
testified  their  regard  and  their  gratitude  by 
sending  him  various  presents  -«-  the  first  flow- 
ers of  the  spring,  the  first  vegetables  and  fruits 
of  the  garden,  were  presented  to  the  beloved 
pastor,  thus  reciprocating  the  sweetest  affec- 
tions of  the  mind  by  external  emblems  of 
gratitude  and  love.  How  delightful,  I  thought, 
it  is  to  be  a  pastor,  when  this  sweet  spirit  of 
recii)rocation  exists  !  where  the  minister,  in  his 
anxiety  and  labor  to  perform  the  arduous  du- 
ties of  his  office,  is  soothed  and  strengthened, 
not  only  by  the  consciousness,  depending  on 
divine  mercy  and  assistance,  of  having  endeav- 
ored to  do  what  he  could  for  the  instruction 
and  salvation  of  his  flock,  but  by  the  sweet 
reciprocation  of  acknowledgment  and  affection. 

470.  "  I  afterwards  was  eager  to  embrace 
the  opportunity  of  enjoying  some  conversation 
with  Oberlin  on  the  spiritual  sense  of  the 
Word.  But  in  this  matter  I  was  disappointed  : 
he  acknowledged  that  the  Word  has  a  spiritual 
sense  ;  but  his  knowledge  of  it  seemed  scanty 
and  obscure.  He  told  me,  he  regretted  that 
be  had  never  been  able  to  procure  Sweden- 
borg's  works,  in  which  the  Word  is  explained 
as  to  its  spiritual  sense,  these  works  not  hav- 
ing been  translated  either  into  French  or  Ger- 
man, and  the  Latin  copies  being  so  scarce, 
that  he  could  never  procure  them.  The  works 
of  Swedenborg  which  he  possessed,  were  the 
Heaven  and  Hell,  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom, 
Divine  Providence,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  a 
German  translation  of  the  Earths  in  the  Uni- 
verse. 

471.  "The  diflferent  biographers  of  Oberlin 
have  carefully  concealed  his  predilection  for 
the  writings  of  Swedenborg  ;  they  all  agree, 
however,  that  he  had  peculiar  views  concern- 
ing heaven  and  hell  and  the  human  soul. 
And  M.  Morel,  who  has  recently  written 
memoirs  of  Oberlin,  says,  '  Oberlin  had  much 
originality  in  his  conceptions,  and  his  most 
singular  ideas  bore  the  impress  of  a  great  soul : 
he  attached  an  emblematical  sense  to  colors. 
His  ardent  imagination,  nourished  by  the  mys- 
tical works  of  Swedenborg,  delighted  to  bound 
over  the  threshold  of  the  tomb,  and  to  expa- 
tiate in  the  mysterious  world  which  awaits  the 
soul,  when  separated  from  its  earthly  bonds." 
—  Documents,  pp.  116-120. 


472.  Let  us  now  recur  to  a  further  notice 
of  the  nnterior  value  and  eminent  imjmrtance 
of  Swedenborg's  writings,  considered  both  from 
a  theological  and  literary  point  of  view. 

Children's  Questions  answered. 

473.  "It  is  extraordinary"  says  Mr.  Wil- 
kinson, "  how  well  Swedenborg  has  answered 
the  children's  questions ;  those  inquiries  of 
little  tongues  that  the  parents  divert,  but  do 
not  satisfy.  If  we  wished  to  give  his  theolo- 
gy an  experiment,  we  should  select  for  its  re- 
cipients children  of  from  five  to  ten  years  of 
age,  and  teach  them  nothing  of  it  except  in 
answer  to  their  own  inquiries.  The  whole 
scheme  would  be  elicited  presently  by  the 
moving  curiosity  of  almost  infantine  querists. 
As  a  satisfaction  to  such  like,  including  those 
simple  adults  whose  faculties  are  as  those  of 
children,  there  is  a  completeness  in  his  revela- 
tions ;  the  first  circle  of  intellectual  wants  is 
gratified  with  parental  forethought ;  the  prof- 
fered education,  drawn  forth  by  the  pupil  him- 
self, is  exact  and  suitable ;  and  the  youthful 
mind  runs  no  danger  of  subsequent  complexi- 
ty in  the  learning  with  which  his  easy  teacher 
provides  him.  The  personal  Maker  of  the 
world,  his  name  and  abode  ;  His  quality  as 
the  best  of  men  ;  the  purpose  of  all  things  for 
our  use  ;  the  immortality  not  of  the  soul  but 
of  the  man,  or  rather  not  his  immortality  but 
his  straight  continuance  ;  the  way  in  which 
people  die  and  rise  again ;  the  great  pleasant- 
ness of  heaven  for  the  good,  and  the  pain  of 
hell  for  the  naughty;  the  men  and  women 
living  in  each  of  the  bright  stars,  and  one  day 
to  be  our  friends  —  these  are  things  to  satisfy 
babes  of  all  conditions  and  ages.  We  would 
back  Swedenborg  for  comforting  little  ones 
weeping  over  a  lost  brother  or  sister,  against 
all  the  clergy  that  ever  preached.  We  would 
back  him  at  a  marriage  for  throwing  upon  the 
wedding  ring  a  brighter  shine  of  the  skies. 
We  should  have  confidence  in  him  for  the  real 
events  and  unguarded  moments  that  happen 
to  men  through  life.  However  this  may  be, 
he  is  the  first  theologian  with  a  voice  that 
penetrates  into  the  nursery,  and  becomes  part 
of  the  mother's  tale,  or  the  governess's  expla- 
nations. Indeed  he  has  answered  none  but 
children's  questions,  which  are  the  first  pure 
wants  of  knowledge.  Until  these  were  met, 
no  questions  had  been  answered ;  and  so  he 
began  at  the  beginning.  He  is  preeminently 
the  Gamaliel  for  the  youngest  faculties." 

Opening  of  Religions  and  Superstitions. 

474.  "  We  have  not  yet  done  with  that 
opening  or  roadmaking  which  radiates  from 
his  works  as  centre.  There  is  no  large  space 
of  thought  that  has  not  become  more  accessi- 
ble, and  we  will  add,  more  lovable,  in  conse- 
quence of  what  he  wrote.  Observe  the  broad 
access  laid  down  in  his  works  between  his  own 


LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


117 


theology  and  other  religions.  The  science  of 
correspondences,  the  link  between  the  worlds,' 
comes  easily  into  lower  relations,  and  pro- 
claims the  original  unity  of  religious  systems. 
The  Hindoo  and  Grecian  mythologies  are 
translated  into  a  Christianity  as  old  as  the 
world,  through  the  restoration  of  that  universal 
language  whose  symbols  are  sun  and  moon, 
and  the  objects  of  creation.  The  first  mani- 
fested word  of  God  was  the  world  itself;  the 
meaning  that  lay  in  the  world  was  what  the 
first  readers  understood.  They  wrote  their 
mythologies,  not  in  vowels  and  consonants,  but 
in  hieroglyphical  things.  Those  mythologies, 
at  length,  were  ill  and  perversely  written,  and 
at  last  the  symbols  overpowered  the  sense  and 
occupied  its  place.  But  still,  whatever  truth 
they  have  is  to  be  attained  by  hieroglyphic  in- 
terpretation. What  a  field  is  here  opened  for 
missionary  enterprises.  The  heathen  may  be 
led  back  from  the  entanglement  of  their  re- 
ligions, to  their  own  ancestral  truths  ;  and 
then,  by  a  readier  passage,  towards  the  Chris- 
tian centre.  The  church  is  the  heart  and 
lungs  of  the  world,  and  by  such  a  missionary 
enterprise,  its  pulses  and  attractions  begin  to 
permeate  the  Asiatic  and  Mahometan  remote- 
ness, to  discuss  and  eliminate  the  accretions 
of  time,  and  to  raise  the  whole  race  as  a  man, 
into  warm-blooded  life.  No  evidences,  or 
even  examples,  plastered  upon  heathenism, 
will  convert  the  barbarian,  but  heathenism 
itself  is  the  unwilHng  witness  to  the  Christian 
faith. 

475.  "  There  is  something  well  fitted  to  the 
Asiatic  in  Swedenborg's  genius.  His  concep- 
tion of  the  Grand  Man,  although  we  belive 
scientijically  original,  is  in  singular  harmony 
with  the  large  and  spheral  thought  of  the  ori- 
ental religions.  Indeed,  his  scientific  views 
are  so  similar  to  the  Chinese  cosmogonies,  that 
were  it  necessaiy  to  seek  for  the  parentage  of 
the  works  of  genius  (which  it  never  is,)  we 
might  easily  build  up  the  former  out  of  the 
latter.  There  is,  however,  an  element  in  him 
w^hich  the  East  has  not,  a  more  than  Europe- 
an, perhaps  a  peculiarly  Scandinavian  activity, 
which  demands  a  material  world  as  the  stern 
proof-place  of  thoughts  and  contemplations. 
There  is  also,  by  consequence,  a  reliance  on 
personal  man,  which  tramples  out  Pantheism, 
and  will  be  satisfied  with  no  perfection  less 
spirit-sha{)ed  than  a  personal  God ;  and  this 
is  a  side  of  life  that  the  East  has  squandered 
and  forgotten. 

476.  "The  Mahometan  creed  is  not  unno- 
ticed by  Swedenborg,  and  he  regards  it  differ- 
ently from  the  Protestant  divines.  With  him 
it  is  a  permitted,  provisional  religion,  midway 
between  Christianity  and  the  ancient  East, 
which  availed  to  extirpate  the  idolatries  of 
many  nations,  and  to  declare  some  important 
truths,  —  sucli  as  the  unity  of  God,  which  may 
in  time  be  united  to  the  Christian  facts. 
Moreover,    Mahometanism  —  the     old-world 


Protestantism  —  opened  in  its  way  the  spir- 
itual world  ;  and  Swedenborg  has  gone  far  to 
show  that  the  visions  of  Mahomet,  whether 
fantastic  or  not,  may  have  been  actual  repre- 
sentatives in  the  spiritual  atmospheres  ;  and 
he  does  not  imitate  Grotius  and  his  successors, 
in  branding  the  Arabian  prophet  as  an  impos- 
tor. Indeed  he  has  given  a  clew  to  the  le- 
gendary and  fairy  lore  of  all  nations,  so  that 
we  hope  in  time  to  make  it  serviceable  for  the 
combined  purposes  of  a  spiritual  and  natural 
anthropology. 

477.  "  As  the  world's  superstitious  sciences, 
they  are  so  important  a  field,  that  we  re- 
gret to  have  little  s})ace  to  devote  to  them  in 
their  connection  with  Swedenborg's  principles. 
There  is  a  truth  lies  in  them  all.  They  are 
founded  severally  upon  certain  large  insights 
and  thaumaturgic  powers,  which  are  never 
alien  to  nature  when  harmonious  man  appears. 
Magic  itself  is  but  the  evil  application  of  the 
science  of  correspondences  ;  the  prevalence  of 
magic  was  a  reason  w^hy  that  science  was 
taken  away  from  the  earth.  In  our  own  day, 
simultaneously  with  the  appearance  of  Swe- 
denborg, these  lost  arts  and  sciences  are  com- 
ing back,  especially  through  mesmerism  and 
its  kindred  progeny  of  truths.  We  can  only 
indicate  that  the  student  of  these  subjects  will 
find  them  amply  treated  from  the  spiritual 
side  in  Swedenborg's  writings,  and  above  all, 
in  his  Diary,  where  it  is  shown  tliat  they  are 
matters  most  accredited  in  the  spiritual  world. 
The  wonders  of  that  world  are  palpable  enough. 
Perhaps,  however,  until  our  own  day,  no  one 
was  sufficiently  aware  of  how  wonderful  Nature 
herself  is  going  to  be,  when  the  ages  are  riper, 
or  of  how  certainly  the  height  of  the  spiritual 
is  the  prophecy  of  the  future  of  the  natural. 
To  our  Savior,  this  world  was  as  plastic  as 
any  world  need  be  ;  and  to  his  true  disciples, 
he  promised  the  like  powers,  and  the  like  obe- 
dience from  the  world.  In  short,  he  inaugu- 
rated the  miraculous  as  the  order  of  nature, 
and  the  realization  of  this  we  look  upon  as  the 
outw^ard  measure  and  standard  of  tlie  human 
regeneration.  In  the  mean  time,  the  despised 
and  obscure  truths,  by  which  nature  already 
emulates  the  spiritual,  may  group  themselves, 
where  their  aims  are  good,  round  Swedenborg's 
principles  and  correspondences,  as  round  a 
fortress  sufiiiciently  able  to  consolidate  and 
protect  them.  But  as  they  value  self-preser- 
vation, let  them  resign  their  baser  worldliness, 
and  cease  to  lean  upon  the  corrupt  impotence 
of  materialism. 

478.  "  Nothing  is  more  evident  to-day,  than 
that  the  men  of  facts  are  afraid  of  a  large 
number  of  important  facts.  All  the  spiritual 
facts,  of  which  there  are  plenty  in  every  age, 
are  denounced  as  superstition.  The  best  at- 
tested spirit  stories  are  not  well  received  by 
that  scientific  courtesy,  which  takes  off  its 
grave  hat  to  a  new  beetle  or  a  fresh  vegetable 
alkaloid.    Large-wigged  science  behaves  worse 


118 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


to  our  ancestors  than  to  our  vermin.  Evi- 
dence on  spiritual  subjects  is  regarded  as  an 
impertinence  by  the  learned  ;  so  timorous  are 
they,  and  so  morbidly  fearful  of  ghosts.  If 
they  were  not  afraid,  they  would  investigate  ; 
but  nature  is  to  them  a  churchyard,  in  which 
they  must  whistle  their  dry  tunes  to  keep  up 
their  courage.  They  should  come  to  Sweden- 
borg,  who  has  made  ghosts  themselves  into  a 
science.  As  the  matter  stands,  we  are  bold 
to  say,  that  there  is  no  class  that  so  little  fol- 
lows its  own  rules  of  uncaring  experiment  and 
induction,  or  has  so  little  respect  for  facts,  as 
the  hardheaded  scientific  men.  They  are  at- 
tentive enough  to  a  class  of  facts  that  nobody 
values,  —  to  beetles,  spiders,  and  fossils,  — 
but  as  to  those  dear  facts  that  common  men 
and  women,  in  all  time  and  place,  have  found 
full  of  interest,  wonder,  or  importance,  they 
show  them  a  deaf  ear,  and  a  callous  heart. 
Science,  in  this,  neglects  its  mission,  which  is 
to  give  us  in  knowledge  a  transcript  of  the 
world,  and  primarily  of  that  in  the  world 
which  is  nearest  and  dearest  to  the  soul. 


Opening  of  History  and  Science. 

479.  "  Swedenborg  has  also  conducted  a 
railroad  from  the  19th  century  to  Eden;  a 
sympathy  from  the  historical  to  the  unhistori- 
cal  ages.  Of  all  histories  there  is  none  so 
desirable,  or  so  unattainable,  as  the  narrative 
of  that  happy  state  before  history  be;2;an.  The 
day  of  no  annals  is  the  only  portion  of  human 
experience  which  deserves  to  be  recorded. 
The  tables  of  goodness  and  happiness  give 
the  kings  and  priests  of  the  immemorial  epoch. 
Paradise  was  its  name.  The  re-discovery  of 
that  time  and  country  is  due  to  Swedenborg's 
Arcana^  elicited  from  the  simple  record  in 
Genesis.  All  is  written  there,  but  till  Sweden- 
borg came,  no  man  could  read  it.  The  science 
of  correspondences  in  union  with  spiritual  ex- 
perience, has  opened  the  path  to  those  ancient 
realms.  What  wings  for  the  poor  gravitating 
antiquary  in  such  disclosures  as  these !  what 
a  conversion  of  research  into  a  key  to  the  lost 
and  future  happiness  of  the  race.  No  matter 
if  at  first  the  discoveries  are  of  the  spiritual 
kind  ;  they  will  lead  without  fail  to  the  mun- 
dane account  of  the  earliest  people,  and  unite 
with  the  archaeological  sciences  when  reason 
holds  them  with  a  firmer  hand.  The  strata 
of  the  earth  have  been  explored  ;  Sweden- 
borg has  explored  also  the  strata  of  the  heav- 
ens :  geology  and  ouranology  are  natural 
counterparts  ;  and  the  science  that  lies  between 
them  and  unites  them,  will  give  the  physical 
story,  and  the  metaphysical  education,  of  our 
progenitors.  Thereafter  we  shall  never  travel 
by  that  road  which  lands  civilization  back  to 
savagery  for  its  origin,  or  carries  the  savage 
to  \\i»Jirst  Adam  in  the  monkey,  but  we  shall 
see  in  the  primitive  man  a  creature  and  a 
power  worthy  to  issue  from  the  immediate 
God,  though  committed  to  nature  and  progress 
for  his  destined  perfections. 


480.  Another  synthesis  effected  by  Sweden- 
*borg  is  that  of  poetry  with  reason  and  science- 

Never  were  things  more  separate  than  these 
for  the  last  thousand  years.  It  has  been  a 
disastrous  quarrel  for  both  parties,  but  especial- 
ly for  science.  Poetry  has  that  in  it  which 
can  stand  by  itself;  of  native  right,  it  takes 
the  milk  and  honey  of  every  land,  and  solidly 
appropriates  the  pictures  and  fruits  of  never- 
failing  nature.  Yet  apart  from  knowledge,  it 
is  a  savage  maiden,  beautiful  only  as  the  land- 
scape, whereas  its  proper  loveliness  is  of  the 
stars  and  the  skies.  Moreover  in  the  wild 
state  it  feeds  upon  terrors  as  well  as  delights, 
upon  good  and  evil  alike,  upon  the  monstrous 
equally  with  the  divine,  until  its  food  gov- 
erns its  inspirations,  and  the  bard  becomes  a 
charmer  instead  of  a  prophet.  The  science  of 
correspondences  puts  the  truth  of  nature  and 
revelation  into  it,  and  sends  an  adequate  criti- 
cism abroad  with  it  in  its  wildest  fiights.  The 
poet  may  be  doubly  rapt  when  the  muse  is 
sailing  with  creation.  He  is  never  so  safe  or 
so  wildly  joyous  as  when  in  the  convoy  of  the 
heavens.  Imagination  is  never  so  tasked  as 
when  it  has  to  follow  its  Maker.  Subtlety, 
novelty,  freedom,  frenzy  are  all  too  little  nim- 
ble to  keep  pace  with  that  infinite  wisdom 
whose  sport  and  play  is  the  world.  Poetry 
by  gaining  a  science  of  the  real,  enters  upon 
the  only  space  where  there  is  no  limit,  but 
where  imagination  may  tire  its  nervous  wing, 
yet  sleep  for  refreshment  when  it  will  upon 
the  humblest  truths.  The  science  which  eman- 
cipates poetry,  is  none  other  than  that  of  har- 
mony, which  we  call,  after  Swedenborg,  the 
science  of  correspondences. 

481.  "Science  too  has  every  thing  to  gain 
from  its  union  through  the  same  medium  with 
poetry.  Hitherto  the  literary  class,  represent- 
ing the  beauty  of  knowledge,  have  been  unac- 
quainted with  the  scientific,  contending  for  its 
severer  truth.  Science  has  suffered  from  the 
exclusion.  Poetry  has  its  admitted  aristocra- 
cy —  names  for  all  climates,  ages  and  sexes  : 
Homers,  Shakspeares,  and  the  like.  Science 
has  no  names  to  match  them.  The  art  of 
understanding  the  world  has  enlisted  none 
of  the  genius  that  has  eagerly  run  towards 
adorning  life  with  song  and  beauty.  The 
structure  of  Iliads  and  Hamlets  is  more  divine 
than  any  structure  of  the  universe  that  has 
been  shown  by  Newton  or  Laplace.  This  is 
because  poetry  has  not  become  the  soul  of 
science,  which  in  truth  it  should  be.  What- 
ever grasp  has  been  yet  attained  by  scientific 
principles,  has  issued  from  the  imagination  as 
a  force ;  from  some  leak  of  poetry  that  has 
run  into  science  :  we  ought  then  to  open  a 
ship  canal  between  the  two  through  this  great 
middle  science  of  harmonies.  Never  till  then 
can  there  be  a  science  of  fire  and  beauty,  and 
so  long  as  this  is  wanting,  science  is  deprived 
of  one  clear  half  of  its  dominions.  Nay,  until 
then   she  is  not  in  possession   of  one  single 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDRNRORG. 


119 


Tiomplefe  fact,  because  every  thing  in  creation 
has  its  own  peculiar  beauty. 

Harmony  or  XTnion. 

482.  "  The  works  of  Swedenborg  proclaim 
this  marriage  of  the  rational  with  the  imagina- 
tive powers.  His  works  are  the  first  fruits  of 
it.  He  shows  by  a  series  of  wonderful  exam- 
ples that  the  highest  imaginations  are  the 
merest  scientific  truths.  We  could  expect  no 
other.  It  seems  eminently  reasonable  that 
the  human  powers  at  their  full  stretch  and  in 
their  lustiest  life,  should  touch  the  facts  that 
the  living  God  has  made,  more  nearly  and 
really  than  crawling  and  commonplace  sensu- 
alism can.  If  you  want  to  understand  a  bee- 
tle, look  at  it  with  all  imagination  through  the 
glass  of  the  universe  ;  translate  it  into  a  min- 
eral, into  a  vegetable,  and  into  a  man  ;  run  it 
along  its  own  line  of  genera  and  species,  and 
let  it  catch  illumination  from  them  all ;  and 
when  you  have  enlarged  it  from  this  associated 
empire,  its  atomic  theory  will  be  palpable  and 
distinct ;  and  every  habit,  limb  and  entrail 
will  be  a  self-evident  proposition.  At  any 
rate  the  whole  world  will  stand  up  for  it. 
Creation  itself,  in  this  science  of  correspond- 
ences, is  the  method  of  study-  The  order  of 
things  gives  the  terras  of  the  mighty  syllo- 
gism. The  four  seasons  are  laws  of  thought 
that  apply  to  every  thing ;  spring,  summer, 
autumn  and  winter  are  one  formula  that  dis- 
sects it  for  you.  A  stone  or  a  man  put  fairly 
through  their  logic  buds,  blossoms,  fruits  and 
winters.  The  mineral,  the  vegetable  and  the 
animal  are  another  of  these  formulas.  Using 
them  so,  they  unlock  another  cabinet  of  truths 
sn  every  thing,  for  every  thing  contains  them. 
The  bones,  for  example,  are  the  mineral  man  ; 
the  organs  are  the  vegetable;  the  nerves  and 
the  muscles  are  the  animal  ;  the  lungs  the 
atmospheric ;  and  the  brains  are  the  solar  ; 
and  so  forth.  These  it  is  true  are  analogies, 
and  not  correspondences,  but  analogies  are 
die  direct  offspring  of  correspondences.  The 
scientific  world  knows  that  truths  of  this  kind 
have  already  made  natural  history  into  a  more 
living  science ;  and  we  advertise  them  that 
more  potential  harmonies  still  lie  in  that  sci- 
ence of  corres{)ondences  which  Swedenborg 
supplied  ;  and  whose  leading  function  it  is,  to 
extend  analogies  from  the  natural  to  the  spir- 
itual, and  to  bring  the  light  of  a  jjersonal  deity 
working  througii  all  nature  to  a  personal  spirit 
in  man,  to  bear  upon  every  form  which  varie- 
gates and  constitutes  the  world. 

483.  "  Swedenborg's  inseparable  life  and 
doctrine  are  then  a  new  conjugal  force  intro- 
duced into  experience,  recalling  to  mind  his 
own  prediction,  that  marriage  will  be  the  re- 
storer of  tl>e  ages,  and  will  lead  down  to  the 
earth  a  still  youngest  child  of  God,  or  a  new 
celestial  church.  Wehav^  seen  that  already  a 
grand  reconciliation  is  prepared.  Through 
death  an  arrow  of  light  is  shot,  and  it  quits 


the  tomb,  and  stands  as  the  open  gate  between 
two  worlds  of  life.  The  letter  of  the  Word 
has  audibly  communed  with  tiie  spirit,  and 
man,  in  the  twain  voices,  hears  the  harmonies 
of  God.  The  Uible  has  done  what  no  book 
could  do  for  it,  namely,  proved  its  own  divini- 
ty. The  marriage  of  the  soul  and  the  body 
has  been  solemnized  in  the  conscious  spirit  ; 
human  reason  has  become  the  mean  of  a  su- 
pernatural revelation  ;  the  senses  and  the  soul 
have  been  at  one  in  a  soul  with  spiritual 
senses ;  and  a  mortal  has  entered  the  spiritual 
world,  —  has  seen  it  by  doctrine,  and  under- 
stood it  by  sight.  There  is  no  apparent  con- 
trariety so  great  but  may  henceforth  be  over- 
come. Ortliodoxy  and  oddity,  reason  and 
mystery,  have  met  without  confusion,  and 
have  kissed  each  other  in  the  streets.  The 
eldest  religions  have  been  j)laced  at  the  feet 
of  the  youngest.  Science  and  superstition, 
philosophy  and  reality,  the  golden  age  and  the 
iron,  and  many  other  natures  seemingly  as 
distant,  have  been  shown  the  way  of  peace  by 
the  mission  of  Swedenborg  ;  and  more  is  yet 
to  hope.  It  remains,  after  this  recapitulation, 
to  show,  in  a  few  words,  that  each  existing 
sphere  already  contained  within  itself  a  long- 
ing and  an  earnest  of  the  atonement  which  is 
thus  individually  begun,  and  which  the  human 
race  must  carry  forward. 

The  Philosophers  are  the  Mystics. 
484.  '-  But  first  we  will  set  before  the  read- 
er one  topic  of  importance  in  regard  to  Swe- 
denborg, we  mean,  his  often  alleged  mysticism- 
Now  he  is  called  a  mystic  by  some,  because 
he  speaks  of  things  of  the  other  world,  which 
would  be  a  reason,  were  it  valid,  for  calling 
the  angels  mystics.  The  phrase  is  occasional- 
ly founded  also  upon  his  interpretation  of  the 
Scripture  according  to  another  sense  than  that 
discoverable  from  the  letter.  But  here  again, 
if  the  letter  speaks  to  one  set  of  faculties,  and 
the  spirit  to  another,  and  if  both  discourses 
are  distinct  and  divine,  and  mutually  harmon- 
ic, there  is  no  mysticism,  but  mere  reality. 
Swedenborg  is  the  only  theologian  who  is  not 
mystical,  the  only  one  who  craves  plain  expe- 
rience for  every  sphere,  the  only  one  who  in- 
sists that  words  shall  answer  to  outward  facts, 
whether  in  this  world  or  the  next.  There  is 
nothing  more  mystical  in  the  sight  of  an  angel, 
or  of  God  himself,  than  in  the  sight  of  any 
object  of  nature ;  nor  are  the  inductions 
founded  upon  either  sight  to  be  called  mystical, 
if  those  based  upon  the  other  are  scientific. 
It  would  be  mystical  if  the  sight  were  not 
sight,  but  some  philosophical  intuition,  but  if 
good  eyes  are  the  seers,  it  is  no  matter  whether 
their  optic  nerves  are  of  spiritual  fiesii-glass,  or 
of  natural,  —  there  is  no  mystery  in  the  case. 
This  is  a  view  which  must  commend  Sweden- 
borg to  the  countrymen  of  Bacon  and  Locke, 
for  so  practically  does  he  assent  to  the  induc- 
tive plan,  as  to  extend  its  sphere  to  the  highest 


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LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 


of  beings;  regarding  God  himself  as  unknow- 
able unless  he  shows  himself  in  experience 
and  history  ;  for  our  Savior's  life  upon  earth 
is  the  base  of  theology,  because  it  is  the  natu- 
ral history  of  God.  Without  this  base  of 
divine  facts,  Deity  might  have  been  the  God 
of  the  soul,  but  never  the  God  of  the  sciences. 
which  are  the  new  kingdom  that  will  absorb 
the  earth.  And  so  also  without  experiment 
of  the  spiritual  world,  the  sciences  must  have 
been  closed  at  the  top,  whereas  that  experi- 
ment carries  them  up  through  a  tangible  heaven 
to  the  same  God  who  appeared  in  history,  and 
who  is  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  knowledge. 
It  puts  us  out  of  patience  to  hear  the  enter- 
prising traveller  to  a  far  countr}',  termed  a 
mystic,  for  giving  a  plain  account  of  things 
heard  and  seen,  while  Grub  Street  philoso- 
phers, who  never  stir  from  their  tripod  stools, 
and  make  heavens  out  of  their  own  heads, 
claim  the  whole  of  daylight  for  themselves,  and 
even  talk  of  their  spiritual  experiences,  mean- 
ing only  their  sedentary  straining  to  find  out 
facts  without  the  trouble  of  going  to  them. 

485.  "  We  tiierefore  now  study  the  science 
of  God,  because  Jesus  Christ  has  lived  upon 
the  earth,  and  Jesus  Christ  is  God  ;  we  study 
the  spiritual  world,  because  one  of  us  has 
been  there,  and  reported  it ;  and  we  study  the 
natural  world,  because  it  is  given  to  us,  and 
our  senses  are  given  to  it,  in  short,  because 
we  did  not  make  it,  but  it  is  a  divine  fact. 
Whatever  we  have  made  ourselves,  we  do  not 
study,  which  is  a  sufficient  demolition  of  sub- 
jective knowledge.  Thus  from  the  spheres  a 
blackness  is  departing.  Mystery,  the  mother 
of  the  abominations  and  harlots  of  the  earth, 
is  unrolling  from  theology,  philosophy  and 
science  ;  and  soon  the  pi'actical,  the  only  sub- 
lime, will  be  all  in  all.  For  time  will  not 
wait  long,  after  marrying  the  mind  to  expe- 
rience, before  the  importance  of  daily  life  will 
not  only  suggest  but  allow  or  disallow  every 
theory,  upon  whatever  subject  put  forth. 

SVi'edenboig  wanted. 

486.  "And  to  revert  to  the  fact  that  the 
old  world  contains  a  promise  of  the  opening 
Swedenborg  commenced,  a  slight  survey  proves 
it.  The  lowest  experience  of  all  time  is  rife 
in  spiritual  intercourse  already  ;  man  believes 
it  in  his  fears  and  hopes,  even  where  his  edu- 
cation is  against  it;  almost  every  family  has 
its  legends,  and  nothing  but  the  wanting  cour- 
age to  divulge  them  keeps  back  this  supernat- 
uralism  from  forming  a  libi-ary  of  itself.  Yea, 
and  every  mourner,  by  a  freshly -opened  grave, 
shoots  with  untamable  love  towards  departed 
friends,  and  bespeaks  them,  while  the  genius 
of  grief  is  on  him,  as  persons  of  real  and  pre- 
sentable stuff.  At  sueli  a  clever  time,  burial 
services  are  but  the  background  on  which  the 
heart  delineates  its  native  skies.  This  is  the 
sense  of  universal  mankind. 

487.  "  Science,  too,  is  infected  with  these 


vulgar  apj)rehensions ;  it  cannot  shake  them 
off,  though  it  cannot  adopt  them.  What 
would  it  not  give  to  be  rid  of  mesmerism,  or 
even  of  magic  and  astrology,  which  it  has 
never  known  how  to  exterminate  ?  This  is 
hopeless  now.  These  griffins  of  knowledge 
have  bitten  into  its  substance,  and  must  either 
become  sciences,  or  science  dies  of  them. 
The  positive  school  is  precisely  that  which 
can  least  resist  the  invasion  of  supernatural- 
ism.  Many  materiahsts  already  have  fallen 
before  it,  and  sunk,  as  might  be  expected,  into 
a  peculiar  unreasoning  superstition.  Nothing 
can  save  them  but  attention  to  spiritual  expe- 
riences. Add  to  which,  that  the  scientific  men, 
with  their  deep  breaths  and  fixed  objects,  are 
taking  the  path  to  seership  in  their  own  bodies  ; 
they  are  running  after  Swedenborg,  and  will 
ere  long  breathe  in  the  same  place  as  he ;  for 
science  itself  is  the  appointed  Seer  of  the 
Future. 

'  Old  experience  doth  attain 
To  something  of  prophetic  strain.' 

488.  "  Again,  if  we  turn  to  the  arts,  electric 
telegraphs  make  spiritual  presence  between 
distant  places :  London  and  Edinburgh  com- 
mune in  spaceless  conversations.  Another 
medium,  glowing  hotter  with  world  friendships, 
will  give  mutual  sight  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
Only  sink  into  the  air  mine  of  community,  and 
India  and  England  shall  be  permanent  natu- 
ral apparitions  to  each  other.  The  mirage  is 
a  true  signpost  of  this  consummation.  Dis- 
tance is  dying,  and  will  be  only  represented 
in  the  altitude  of  the  human  perceptions. 
Magnetism  itself,  in  its  instant  rounds,  derides 
and  despises  it ;  the  very  stones  appear  to 
each  other  by  its  spiritual  communications  ; 
and  shall  men,  who  are  one  in  a  nobler  mag- 
netism, be  repi'oved  by  the  friendships  of  the 
ground  ? 

489.  "  As  for  reason,  and  philosophy,  it.-* 
representative,  it  is  an  ambidextrous  power, 
and  shifts  either  way  at  the  bidding  of  expe- 
rience. Sound  reason  is  affirmative  already, 
being  the  kindest  of  the  sciences  ;  but  meta- 
physical reason  also  turns  to  the  rising  sun, 
and  will  give  supernaturalism  an  exaggerated 
truth,  when  it  comes  as  current  coin  Iron* 
the  sciences.  If  there  is  little  to  hope  from 
this  philosophy,  there  is  nothing  to  fear,  for  \i 
is  always  the  wind  of  a  more  real  power,  the 
slave  of  sterner  faculties  than  its  own. 

490.  "  Turn  we  again  to  poetry,  where  in- 
deed the  ground  is  ready,  and  samples  of  the 
tillage  are  native  to  the  soil.  Nothing  but  the 
greatest  misfortune  has  kept  the  poets  froni 
Swedenboi-g  and  the  normal  spiritual  world. 
This  man  is  the  luminous  pier  of  all  the  bards 
that  have  arched  the  ages  with  their  rainbows. 
From  blind  Ma?onides  through  blind  Milton, 
the  last  span  of  double-sighted  poesy  reposes 
upon  Swedenborg.  Not  one  of  the  great  ones 
but  has  longed  to  see  his  day ;  not  one,  bufc 
has  visited  the  spirit  world,  as  the  theme  of 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG. 


121 


themes  and  the  song  of  songs  for  the  progeny 
of  Adam.  This  was  the  end  of  the  earliest 
voyages,  and  the  hist  heroism  of  the  ancient 
heroes.  For  this  Ulysses,  emancipated  from 
Circe,  after  so  many  morlal  wanderings,  visit- 
ed the  shadowland  of  those  dim  times,  where 
yet  immortal  justice  reigned,  and  gathered  the 
perpetuation  of  human  passions  in  tlie  stern 
gait  of  Ajax,  and  from  sorrowful  words  from 
the  great  Achilles.  For  this  he  brought  back 
the  hieroglyphics  of  the  spirit,  in  the  waters 
of  Tantalus,  the  wheel  of  Ixion,  and  the  sieve 
of  Danaidai.  For  this  TT^ieas,  Sibyl-instruct- 
ed, descended  to  Avernus,  and  through  the 
land  beyond  slee))  and  death,  still  found  im- 
perishable mankind,  and  present  with  his  an- 
cestral spirits  in  tlieir  tide  of  prophecy,  beheld 
the  line  of  Roman  glories  issuing  from  the 
closed  race  of  Troy.  O  !  depth  and  breadth 
and  length  unending  of  the  life  of  our  fore- 
fathers !  From  Virgil  to  Dante  the  arch  of 
light  again  sits  upon  the  spiritual  world  ;  earth 
has  no  top  but  the  poet-seer  on  which  the 
eternal  curve  will  lean.  The  Christian  Hades 
vaults  back  to  the  heathen  through  the  stern 
Italian  song ;  Dante  and  Virgil  are  fellow- 
travellers,  all  but  through  heaven  where  Christ 
alone  can  reign.  From  Dante  to  Shakspeare 
and  to  Milton  is  the  next  gird  of  the  baser 
flood.  In  Macbeth  and  Hamlet,  the  poet  of 
civilization  links  the  worlds  afresh,  by  the  in- 
troduction of  an  infernal  band  of  ambition  in 
tlie  one  case,  by  a  reappearance  of  the  dead 
in  the  other;  if  nothing  more,  he  gives  his 
niighty  vote  for  the  supernatural  life.  The 
Paradise  Lost  is  all  seership  ;  imagination 
shows  again  that  there  is  no  play  room  for  tlie 
highest  efforts  but  the  spiritual  world.  The 
personages,  professedly  superhuman,  are  hu- 
man after  all.  Milton,  who  stamped  the  tra- 
ditions of  his  church  with  the  gold  mark  of  his 
own  genius,  and  who  proves  how  much  can  be 
attempted,  and  how  little  can  be  done  with  the 
Pi'otestant  imagination,  at  all  events  completed 
a  poetic  cycle  of  affirmations  of  the  spiritual 
world.  Not  one  high  tuneful  voice  is  absent 
from  our  list;  the  'morning  stars  of  song' 
are  strictly  choral  there.  The  lower  world, 
well  pleased,  sees  them  all  attempt  what  Swe- 
denborg  accomplished.  Yet  while  he  mounts  I 
above  them,  it  is  not  by  a  greater  genius,  but 
by  finer  harmony  of  character  and  circum-  j 
stance  with  God,  leading  to  an  apjjreciation  ' 
by  the  humblest  of  realms  unascended  by 
song,  and  to  a  conjunction  of  this  world's  busi- 
ness with  similar  but  sublimer  industry  in  the 
spiritual  heavens. 

491.  "  For  politics  and  morals  are  pene- 
trated by  the  same  spirit.  The  associative 
temper  of  the  epoch  runs  molten  from  that 
other  world  where  the  union  of  the  race  is 
closer  knit  than  on  this  disunited  earth.  The 
spirit  of  work  lifting  the  arm  with  strokes  in- 
cessant as  the  steam  engine's,  lives  from  a 
faith  in  work  as  the  last  comfort  of  mankind  ; 
16 


it  longs  for  a  heart  of  work  in  Swedenborg'3 
revelations  ;  it  desires  to  be  certified  that  in- 
dustry is  divine  and  immortal ;  that  the  week 
days  preponderate  in  heaven ;  that  beyond 
the  grave  the  useless  classes  are  vile  ;  that  the 
angels,  like  good  artisans,  eat  because  they 
labor.  Luxurious  ease,  bodiless  cherubs,  sky 
floatings,  everlasting  prayers  or  anthems,  are 
an  ofTence  to  the  great  God  of  the  six  days* 
work,  and  Svvedenborg,  a  working  man,  has 
brought  us  the  tidings.  The  horny  hand  of 
the  day  springs  opening  to  the  messenger. 

492.  "  There  is  however  a  Sabbath  in  both 
the  worlds  —  a  day  with  a  sacred  number  —  a 
workday  of  the  religious.  And  does  not  re- 
ligion coalesce  with  Swedenborg's  informa- 
tions? I  marvel  how  any  Christian  man  can 
deride  revelations  in  the  abstract ;  how  he 
can  deem  that  the  day  of  wonders  is  past,  un- 
less God  be  past ;  how  he  dares  use  phrases 
against  Swedenborg,  which  applied  more  wide- 
ly would  shatter  his  Bible  from  his  hands. 
Let  infidelity  be  consistent  in  tearing  away  all 
revelations,  let  it  number  and  compaginate 
the  graveyards  of  nature,  and  assiduously  bind 
up  the  book  of  death  ;  but  let  Christianity  be 
equally  true  to  itself,  and  look  for  Christianity 
every  where,  for  life  and  revelations  every 
where.  Even  heathenism  glitters  with  a  star- 
light of  immortality.  But  immortality  and 
the  spirit  land  lie  in  golden  lakes  in  the  Word 
of  God :  they  wait  to  be  explored  by  human 
adventure  and  experience.  The  Prophets 
and  the  Apocalypse  are  proof  and  counter- 
proof  to  Swedenborg's  narrations  :  the  visions 
of  John  walk  the  waters  with  his  ;  the  nine- 
teenth century  begins  in  him  to  reap  the  har- 
vest of  supernatural  intercourse  of  which 
Christ  Himself  sowed  the  seeds  in  the  first. 
All  religion  in  its  spiritual  day,  in  its  own 
archives,  and  in  its  first  founders,  stretches  out 
the  free  right  hand  of  fellowship  to  this  last 
seer.  And  here  we  conclude  our  examination 
of  witnesses  to  the  character  of  Swedenborg's 
revelations. 

493.  "  Are  they  final,  or  do  we  look  for 
another?  A  rational  revelation,  we  reply,  is 
the  first  step  to  a  more  rational :  a  religion 
given  up  to  the  human  mind  is  a  progressive 
religion.  A  seer  whose  intellect  is  in  his 
eyes,  will  be  succeeded  by  other  seers  with 
better  optics  because  greater  intellects.  Sights 
more  improbable  ever  await  to  be  uncurtained. 
It  is  God's  truth  that  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor 
ear  heard,  nor  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of 
man  to  conceive  those  things  which  God  hath 
prepared  for  them  that  love  him.  This  truth 
is  always  ascending  to  God  who  gave  it.  The 
better  heaven  is  known,  the  more  it  recedes 
into  that  uncomprehended  love.  The  seeing 
eye  disturbs  not  the  unseen  :  the  hearing  ear 
lists  not  the  song  of  songs  ;  the  heart's  coucep- 
tions  are  beggared  by  simple  truth  ;  and  man, 
athwart  all  revelations  must  wait  upon  his 
God."  —  Wilkinson's  Biography,  pp.  2oiJ-270, 


122 


LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 


494.  It  now  remains  for  us  to  pass  judg- 
ment upon  such  a  phenomenon  as  is  present- 
ed to  us  in  this  Life  of  Swedenborg.  What 
will  the  world  say  of  it  ?  To  our  apprehen- 
sion, the  Divine  Providence  is  nowhere  more 
conspicuous  than  in  raising  up,  at  such  a  time, 
such  a  man.  Let  it  ever  be  borne  in  mind 
that  Swedenborg  made  his  appearance  at  a 
time  a  little  preceding  that  memorable  event 
designated  by  him  as  the  Last  Judgment, 
which,  he  affirms,  took  place  in  the  spiritual 
world  in  1757.  So  that  he  was  in  the  vigor 
and  full  glow  of  his  successful  life,  at  a  little 
before,  at  the  time  of,  and  several  years  after, 
this  eventful  transaction  which  so  changed 
the  condition  of  the  church  and  world,  and  by 
which  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
could  be  given  to  mankind.  How  marked 
and  fitting  a  time,  for  the  existence  of  such  a 
man  !  It  was  then  that  a  host  of  evils  and 
falses  were  cleared  away  from  the  world  of 
spirits,  which  had  been  gathering  for  ages,  and 
which  had  so  obstructed  the  influx  of  good  and 
truth  from  the  heavens,  that  but  little  of  the 
pure  doctrine  of  Christianity  could  at  all  make 
its  way  into  the  world  ;  and  the  same  may  be 
said  of  natural  truth,  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  science  and  philosophy.  And  if  any 
one  would  perceive  the  cause  of  the  wonder- 
ful advances  of  natural  science  and  philoso- 
phy during  the  last  century,  let  him  look  for  it 
in  the  Last  Judgment,  which  occurred  in  the 
spiritual  world  at  about  the  time  of  the  com- 
mencement of  this  increase  of  light.  Sweden- 
borg, among  the  rest,  came  at  this  time. 
Here  is  Providence,  strongly  marked,  which 
adapts  the  men  to  the  ages.  "  It  is  also  a 
remaikable  circumstance,  and  should  be  an 
instructive  one,  that  when  the  doctrines  of  the 

,,  New  Jerusalem  were  to  be  given  to  men,  they 
were  revealed  through  the  agency  of  one  who 
stood  by  common  consent  in  the  first  rank  of 
the  learned  men  of  his  age."  But  let  it  ever 
be  remembered  that  it  is  not  as  the  promulgator 
of  a  NEW  revelation,  or  the  preacher  of  a  new 
gospel,  that  the  claim  is  made  for  Swedenborg. 

-  '•  His  office  was  to  open  the  eyes  of  mankind 
to  the  glories  of  the  old  one.  And  is  this  an 
office,  or  are  these  advantages,  which  we  are 
justified  in  denying  without  examination?  Is 
the  world  so  well  acquainted  with  the  mean- 
ing of  divine  revelation,  that  no  further  in- 
struction   is    necessary  ?     Dr.  Adam    Clarke, 

,  speaking  of  the  revelation  of  John,  says, 
'  If  it  is  a  revelation,  it  is  a  revelation  of 
enigmas,  and  requires  another  revelation  to 
explain  it ' !  And  amidst  the  Babel  of  re- 
ligious systems  around  us,  is  there  nothing 
required  to  direct  us  in  this  confusion  of 
tongues?  Without  affirming  that  the  Lord 
has  given  us  any  further  light,  we  would  ask 
the  most  tenacious  advocate  for  modern  secta- 
rianism, Would  it  not  be  a  great  advantage 
to  the  world  if  such  light  could  be  given  ? 

■  Would  it  not  be  an  invaluable  gift,  if  the  Lord 


would  reveal  to  us  clearly  the  meaning,  of  his 
Word?  Now,  we  most  broadly  and  distinctly 
assert,  tiiat  the  whole  of  the  Theological 
writings  of  Swedenborg  have  the  tendency  to 
prove  that  he  was  commissioned  by  the  Lord 
to  reveal  the  true  nature  of  the  Gospel  to 
mankind,  through  the  unfolding  of  its  spiritu- 
al sense,  and  to  declare  the  true  nature  of  that 
future  state  to  which  we  are  all  hastening." 

495.  The  appearance  of  Swedenborg  at 
such  a  time,  unfolding  such  truths,  so  calm,  so 
deep,  so  perfectly  possessed  and  assured,  while 
dealing  with  such  eternal  and  momentous 
realities,  can  be  no  otherwise  regarded  than 
as  a  most  distinguished  providence  to  a  needy 
and  benighted  world.  Like  the  northern  light 
of  his  own  country,  sending  its  luminous  rays 
high  up  into  the  atmosphere  of  its  winter  cold 
and  darkness,  so  has  this  Seer  and  Philoso- 
pher of  the  latter  ages  made  his  appearance, 
with  the  higher  light  of  a  divinely  illuminated 
understanding,  piercing  into  and  scattering 
tlie  darkness  of  centuries. 

496.  And  now,  in  view  of  all,  considering 
the  wonderful  character  of  the  day  in  which 
we  live,  especially  in  reference  to  the  break- 
ing up  of  old  theologies  —  the  downfall  of 
sectarianism  —  the  freedom  of  the  human 
mind  in  so  many  departments  of  knowledge 
which  have  heretofore  been  barred  and  bolt- 
ed against  all  rational  investigation,  by  the 
church's  tyranny  and  the  prevailing  ignorance 
—  and  the  very  evident  commencement  of  a 
new  spiritual  era  for  mankind ;  in  view  of  all 
this,  we  cannot  fail  to  have  the  most  intense 
interest  in  the  precise  meaning  which  Sweden- 
borg embodied  in  his  remark  to  Dr.  Oetinger, 
before  quoted,  in  respect  to  what  further  sign 
might  be  given,  in  proof  of  his  divine  mission 
and  truthfulness.  "  The  sign  given  at  this 
day,  (j-ays  Swedenborg)  will  be  an  illustration^ 
and  thence  a  knowledge  and  reception  of  the 
truths  of  the  New  Church.  Some  speaking 
illustration  of  certain  persons  may  likewise 
take  place  ;  this  works  more  effectually  than 
miracles.  Tet  one  token  may  perhaps  still  be 
given."  It  is  well  understood  from  what  is 
believed  to  be  a  report  of  some  private  con- 
versation, that  Swedenborg  remarked,  that  in 
about  one  hundred  years  from  his  day,  (we 
do  not  know  precisely  what  year  to  date  from) 
the  principles  and  truths  which  he  was  instru- 
mental in  teaching,  would  to  a  good  extent 
prevail.  Have  we  not  already  the  brightest 
omens  of  it  ?  But  what  may  be  the  "  speaking 
illustration  of  certain  persons,"  and  what  that 
other  "  token "  which  may  still  be  given  ? 
Who  does  not  regard  with  the  deepest  interest 
the  spiritual  foretellings  of  such  a  man,  and 
who  does  not  wait,  in  humble  confidence,  for 
the  fulfilments  of  the  coming  years  ?  One 
thing  is  certain.  The  great  Providential  Man 
of  the  church  has  been  born,  and  his  word  is 

to  "  GROW  CLEARER  AND  LOUDER  THROUGH 
ALL  AGES." 


APPENDIX. 


The  Familiar  Spirit. 

[The  following  item  should  have  come  in  at  its  proper  place, 
on  page  97.] 

497.  In  the  letter  of  D.  Paulus  ab  Indagine, 
referred  to  on  said  page,  No.  38G,  we  have  the  fol- 
lowing testimony  concerning  the  familiar  spirit. 
"I  cannot  forbear,"  says  he,  "to  tell  you  some- 
thing new  about  Swedenborg.  Last  Thursday  I 
paid^hiin  a  visit,  and  found  iiim,  as  usual,  writing. 
He  told  mc,  '  that  he  had  been  in  conversation  that 
same  morning,  for  three  hours,  with  the  deceased 
king  of  Sweden.  He  had  seen  him  already  on  the 
Wednesday  ;  but,  ^s  he  observed  that  he  was  deep- 
ly engaged  in  conversation  with  the  queen,  who  is 
still  living,  he  would  not  disturb  him.'  I  allowed 
him  to  continue,  but  at  length  asked  him,  how  it 
was  possible  for  a  person  who  is  still  in  the  land  of 
the  living,  to  be  met  with  in  the  world  of  spirits  ? 
He  replied,  '  that  it  was  not  the  queen  herself,  but 
her  sinrlliis  familians,  or  her  familiar  spirit.'  I 
asked  him  what  that  might  be?  for  I  had  nei- 
ther heard  from  him  any  thing  respecting  appear- 
ances of  that  kind,  nor  had  I  read  any  thing 
about  them.  He  tlien  informed  me,  'that  every 
man  has  cither  his  good  or  bad  spirit,  who  is  not 
constantly  witli  him,  but  sometimes  a  little  removed 
from  him,  and  appears  in  the  world  of  spirits.  But 
of  this  the  man  still  living  iuiows  notliing ;  the  spir- 
it, however,  knows  every  thing.  This  familiar  spir- 
it has  every  tiling  in  accordance  with  his  compan- 
ion upon  earth;  he  has  in  the  world  of  spirits,  the 
same  tigure,  the  same  countenance,  and  the  same 
tone  of  voice,  and  wears  also  similar  garments  ;  in 
a  word,  t\us  familiar  spirit  of  the  queen,'  says  Swe- 
denborg, '  appeared  exactly  as  he  had  so  often  seen 
the  queen  herself  at  Stockholm,  and  had  heard  her 
speak.'  In  order  to  allay  my  astonishment,  he  add- 
ed, 'that  Dr.  Ernesti,  of  Leipsic,  had  appeared  to 
him  in  a  similar  manner  in  the  world  of  spirits,  and 
that  he  had  held  a  long  disputation  with  him.' " 

Octonary  Computus. 

[The  following  is  an  account  of  the  Ortonary  Computus,  (or 
mode  ol  calculating  by  eighth^,)  mentioMcd  on  page  'J,  No.  02.] 

Letter  of  M.  Swedenborg;,  Jlsstssor  of  the  Board  of 
Mines,  to  M.  JVordbcrg,  Aullior  of  the  History  of 
Charles  Xll. 

498.  "Sir,  —  As  you  are  now  actually  engaged 
upon  the  Life  of  Charles  XII.,  I  avail  myself  of  the 
opportunity  to  give  you  some  information  concern- 
ing that  monarch,  wiiich  is,  perhaps,  new  to  you,  and 
worthy  of  being  transmitted  to  posterity.  I  have  al- 
ready touched  upon  the  subject,  in  the  fourth  part  of 
my  Miscellanea,  treating  de  Calculo  novo  Sexagena- 
rlo,  ^-c,  whence  M.  Wolft'  has  derived  what  he  has 
said  in  his  Elenienta  Matheseos  Universoe,  relative 
to  this  new  Calculus. 

"  In  1710,  when  M.  Polheim  received  the  king's 
orders  to  repair  to  Lund,  he  engaged  me  to  accom- 
pany him  thither.  Having  been  presented  to  his 
majesty,  he  often  did  us  the  honor  of  conversing 
witii  us  upon  the  different  branches  of  mathematics, 
and  particularly  upon  mechanics,  the  mode  of  cal- 
culatmg  forces,  and  other  problems  of  geometry  and 
arithmetic.  He  seemed  to  take  remarkable  pleas- 
ure in  these  conversations,  and  often  put  ques- 
tions, as  if  he  merely  propose^  to  gain  some  slight 


elucidation  from  us ;  but  we  soon  found  that  these 
things  were  not  strange  to  him,  which  put  us,  sub- 
sequently, more  upon  our  guard,  not  to  speak  to 
him  of  common  or  unimportant  matters,  nor  to  ad- 
vance any  thing  doubtful  in  which  he  might  have 
shown  us  to  be  mistaken.  The  conversation  turn- 
ing upon  analytical  and  algebraical  calculation,  as 
well  as  upon  what  is  called  the  regula  falsi  (rule 
of  false  position),  he  desired  us  to  bring  forward 
examples,  which  we  accordingly  did,  proposing 
such  as  made  it  incumbent,  in  order  to  proceed 
agreeably  to  rule,  to  use  signs  or  symbols,  as  well  as 
equations.  The  king  did  not  require  them,  and  af- 
ter a  few  minutes'  reflection,  he  told  us,  without  any 
other  aid  than  his  own  superior  genius,  in  what  way 
our  examples  might  be  solved,  which  we  always 
found  to  agree  perfectly  with  our  calculations.  I 
confess,  that  I  have  never  been  able  to  understand, 
how,  by  mere  reasoning,  and  without  the  aid  of  Al- 
gebra, he  was  emibled  to  solve  problems  of  this 
kind.  It  seemed,  indeed,  that  the  king  was  not  sor- 
ry to  display  before  M.  Polheim  —  a  competent 
judge  in  these  things — a  penetration  and  power 
of  reasoning,  equalling  those  of  the  ablest  mathe- 
maticians. 

"  I  will  now  relate  to  you,  as  I  am  peculiarly  able 
to  do,  what  arose  from  this  learned  annisement, 
which  is  as  follows  :  —  Conversing  one  day  with 
the  king  upon  arithmetic,  and  the  mode  of  counting, 
we  observed,  that  almost  all  nations  upon  reaching 
10,  began  again  ;  that  those  figures  which  occupy 
the  first  place,  never  change  their  value,  while  those 
in  the  second  place,  were  multiplied  tenfold,  and  so 
on  with  the  others ;  to  which  we  added,  that  men 
had  apparently  begun  by  counting  their  fingers,  and 
that  this  method  was  still  practised  by  the  people  ; 
that  arithmetic  having  been  formed  into  a  science, 
figures  had  been  invented,  which  were  of  the  utmost 
service  ;  and,  nevertheless,  that  the  ancient  mode 
of  counting  had  been  always  retained,  in  beginning 
again  after  arriving  at  10,  and  which  is  observed  by 
putting  each  figure  in  its  proper  place.  The  king 
was  of  opinion,  that  had  such  not  been  the  origin  of 
our  mode  of  counting,  a  much  better  and  more  ge- 
ometrical method  might  have  been  invented,  and 
one  which  would  have  been  of  great  utility  in  calcu- 
lations, by  making  choice  of  some  other  periodical 
number  than  10.  That  the  number  10  had  this 
great  and  necessary  inconvenience,  that  when  di- 
vided by  2,  it  could  not  be  reduced  to  the  number 
1  without  entering  into  fractions.  Besides,  as  it 
comprehends  neither  the  square,  nor  the  cube,  nor 
the  fourth  power  of  any  number,  many  difficulties 
arise  in  numerical  calculations.  Whereas,  had  the 
periodical  number  been  8  or  IG,  a  great  facility 
would  have  resulted,  the  first  being  a  cube  number, 
of  which  the  root  is  2,  and  the  second  a  square 
number,  of  which  the  root  is  4,  and  that  these  num- 
bers being  divided  by  2,  their  primitive,  the  number 
1  would  be  obtained,  which  would  be  highly  useful 
with  regard  to  money  and  measures,  by  avoiding  a 
quantity  of  fractions.  The  king,  after  speaking  at 
great  length  on  this  subject,  expressed  a  desire  that 
we  should  make  a  trial  with  some  other  number 
than  10.  Having  represented  to  him,  that  this  could 
not  be  done,  unless  we  invented  new  figures,  to 
which,  also,  names  altogether  different  from  the  an- 

(123* 


124 


APPENDIX. 


cient  ones  must  be  given,  as,  otherwise,  great  con- 
fusion would  arise,  lie  desired  us  to  prepare  an  ex- 
ample in  point. 

"  We  chose  the  number  8,  of  which  the  cube 
root  is  2,  and  which,  being  divided  by  2,  is  reduced 
to  the  primitive  number  1.  We  also  invented  new 
figures,  to  which  we  gave  new  names,  and  proceed- 
ed according  to  the  ordinary  method  ;  after  which  we 
applied  them  to  the  cubic  calculations,  as  well  as  to 
money  and  to  measures.  The  essay  having  been 
presented  to  the  king,  he  was  pleased  with  it :  but  it 
was  evident  that  he  had  wished  something  more 
extended,  and  less  easy,  in  order  that  he  might  dis- 
play the  superiority  of  his  genius  and  his  great 
penetration.  To  this  end  he  proposed  to  adopt 
some  number  which  should  contain  a  square  as  well 
as  a  cube,  and  which,  when  divided  by  2,  might  be 
reduced  to  the  primitive  number  1.  He  made 
choice  of  (J4;  but  we  observed  to  him  that  it  was 
too  high  a  number,  and,  consequently,  very  incon- 
venient, and,  indeed,  that  it  was  almost  impossible 
to  employ  it;  that,  besides,  if  we  were  obliged  to 
reckon  up  to  G4,  before  recommencing,  and  that  up- 
on reaching  04  times  64,  or  4090,  only  three  figures 
were  used,  calculation  would  be  rendered  immense- 
ly difficult,  especially  with  regard  to  multiplication 
and  division  ;  because  it  would  be  necessary  to  com- 
mit to  memory  a  multiplication  table  composed  of 
409(5  numbers,  while  the  common  table  comprised 
only  80  or  90  numbers.  However,  the  more  we  urged 
our  difficulties,  the  more  he  was  determined  to  put 
liis  idea  into  practice  ;  and  to  show  the  possibility  of 
wliat  appeared  to  us  to  require  long  and  profound 
retiection,  he  undertook  to  devise  this  method  him- 
self, and  to  lay  down  the  plan  of  it,  which  he  sent 
to  us  the  next  morning.  He  had  invented  new 
figures,  each  with  its  particular  name.  The  64  fig- 
ures were  divided  into  8  classes,  each  being  des- 
ignated by  a  particular  symbol.  Upon  a  closer 
inspection,  I  found  that  these  symbols  or  signs  were 
composed  of  tlie  initial  and  final  letters  of  his  own 
name,  in  a  manner  at  once  so  clear  and  exact,  that 
wiien  the  first  8  numbers  were  known,  all  the  rest 
up  tu  64  were  attainable  without  the  least  difficulty. 
The  names  of  the  8  numbers  of  the  first  class  were 
very  simple,  and  those  of  the  others  so  well  con- 
trived, that  one  could  easily  remember  them,  with- 
out fear  of  confusion.  Having  arrived  at  the  number 
64,  when  it  became  necessary  to  proceed  with  three 
figures,  up  to  64  times  64,  he  had  invented  new 
names,  admirably  arranged,  and  so  easily  and  natu- 
rally varied  that  there  was  not  any  number,  however 
high,  for  which  there  was  not  a  name  ;  and  this 
might  be  carried  on  ad  infmituin,  following  the  prin- 
ciples  and  rules  laid  down, 

"  It  was  to  me  that  the  king  committed  this  plan, 
in  his  own  handwriting  [the  original  of  which  1  still 
preserve],  in  order  to  arrange  from  it  a  table  show- 
ing the  ditference  between  this  and  the  common 
mode  of  counting,  both  with  regard  to  the  names 
and  the  figures. 

"  The  king  had  also  added  to  his  plan  an  exam- 
ple in  multiplication  and  in  division  ;  two  operations 
in  which  I  had  contemplated  so  much  difficulty. 
As  it  was  my  place  to  undertake  the  perfecting  of 
his  method,  I  examined  it  thoroughly,  in  order  to 
discover  whether  it  might  not  be  rendered  yet  more 
easy  and  more  convenient  of  application  than  it  was. 
My  attempts,  however,  were  in  vain ;  and  I  much 
doubt  whether  the  greatest  matheniaticians  would 
have  succeeded.  What  I  chiefly  admire,  is,  the  in- 
genuity shown  by  t!ie  king  in  the  invention  of  the 
figures  and  the  names,  and  the  ease  with  which  the 
pigns  may  be  varied  ad  infinitum,    I  was  also  great- 


ly struck  with  his  example  in  multiplication  ;  and 
when  I  consider  the  short  time  in  which  he  accom- 
plished this,  I  cannot  but  regard  him  as  a  prince 
endowed  with  a  genius  and  a  penetration  much 
above  those  of  other  men  ;  whence  I  have  been  led 
to  believe  that,  in  all  his  other  actions,  he  was  guid- 
ed by  greater  wisdom  than  apparently  belonged 
to  him.  Certain  it  is,  that  he  thought  it  beneath 
him  to  assume  the  air  of  a  learned  man,  by  affect- 
ing an  imposing  exterior.  What  he  said  to  me, 
one  day,  regarding  mathematics,  expressed  a  sen- 
timent truly  worthy  of  a  king,  — '  that  he  who  had 
made  no  progress  whatever  in  this  science,  did  not 
deserve  to  be  considered  as  a  rational  man.' 
"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c., 

"  Em.  Swedenborg." 

First   public   Advertisement  of  Swedenborg's 
Writings. 

[For  the  curiosity  of  those  who  would  see  a  document  of  this 
kind,  we  insert  tlie  following  original  advertisement  by  the 
printer  of  the  second  volume  of  the  Arcana  CaL-stia.  It  was 
published  in  parts,  each  containing  one  chapter,  and  accom- 
panied, in  separate  numbers,  by  an  English  translation.] 

Paternoster  Row,  February  5,  1750. 

499.  Advertisement,  by  John  Lewis,  Printer 
and  Publisher,  in  Paternoster  Row,  near  Cheapside, 
London.  Be  it  known  unto  all  the  Learned  and 
Curious,  that  this  day  is  published  the  First  Num- 
ber of  Arcana  Calestia  or  Heavenly  Secrets  which 
are  in  tlie  Sacred  Scripture,  or  Word  of  the  Lord, 
laid  open ;  as  they  are  found  in  the  Sixteenth 
Chapter  of  Genesis  ;  together  with  the  wonderful 
tilings  that  have  been  seen  in  the  World  of  Spirits, 
and  in  the  Heaven  of  Angels. 

This  work  is  intended  to  be  such  an  exposition 
of  the  whole  Bible  as  was  never  attempted  in  any 
language  before.  The  author  is  a  learned  foreign- 
er, who  wrote  and  printed  the  first  volume  of  the 
same  work  but  last  year,  all  in  Latin,  which  may 
be  seen  at  my  shop  in  Paternoster  Row,  as  above 
mentioned. 

And  now  the  second  volume  is  printing  both  in 
Latin  and  English  ;  to  be  published  in  cheap  num- 
bers, that  the  public  may  have  it  in  an  easier  man- 
ner, in  either  tongue,  than  in  whole  volumes. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  this  nation  abounds 
with  a  variety  of  commentaries  and  expositions  on 
the  Holy  Bible  ;  yet  when  we  consider  what  an  in- 
exhaustible fund  of  knowledge  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
ture contains,  the  importance  of  the  subjects  it 
treats  of,  and  the  vast  concern  every  man  has  in 
those  things  they  relate  and  recommend,  we  may 
cease  to  wonder  that  so  many  ingenious  pens  have 
been  employed  in  sounding  the  depths  of  this  vast 
ocean ;  and  he  must  be  a  very  dull  writer  indeed, 
who  does  not  find  a  pretty  large  number  of  readers 
of  any  work  he  may  publish  of  this  kind.  I  would 
be  far  from  depreciating  the  merit  of  any  man's 
performance,  nay,  I  will  allow,  that  it  is  owing  to  the 
labors  of  learned  and  pious  men,  in  their  disquisi- 
tions after  truth  in  the  Bible  that  we  of  this  king- 
dom have  been  enabled  to  discern  truth  from  error, 
and  to  know  more  of  the  mind  and  will  of  God  in 
his  Word,  than  the  priests  of  Rome  were  willing 
we  should.  Yet  give  me  leave  to  add,  that  these 
Sacred  Writings  are  capable  of  speaking  to  the 
heart  and  understanding  of  man,  by  more  ways 
than  have  been  thought  of  or  put  in  practice ;  and 
he  who  can  discover  new  treasures  in  these  sacred 
mines,  and  produce  from  them  such  rich  jewels  as 
were  never  yet  seen  by  the  eye  of  man,  will  un- 
doubtedly challenge  our  strictest  attention,  and 
deserve  encouragement  in  his  pious  labors.  This 
then  may  be  said  of  our  author.     He  has  struck 


APPENDIX. 


125 


out  a  new  path  through  this  deep  abyss,  which  no 
man  ever  trod  before.  He  has  left  all  the  com- 
mentators and  expositors  to  stand  on  their  own 
footing  ;  he  neitlier  meddles  nor  interferes  with 
any  of  them ;  his  thoughts  are  all  his  own  ;  and 
tlie  ingenious  and  sublime  turn  he  has  given  to 
every  thing  in  the  Scripture,  he  has  copied  from 
no  man ;  and  therefore,  even  in  this  respect,  he 
hath  some  title  to  tlie  regard  of  the  ingenious  and 
learned  world. 

It  is  true,  when  a  reader  comes  to  peruse  this 
work,  if  he  expects  to  understand  him  with  a  slight 
and  cursory  reading,  he  will  fmd  himself  greatly 
mistaken  ;  his  thoughts  are  too  sublime  and  lofty 
to  be  surveyed  with  a  weak  or  a  wanton  eye ;  his 
language  is  quite  different  from  tiie  common  modes 
of  speech  ;  and  his  sense  is  sometimes  so  deep  and 
profound,  as  not  to  be  readily  apprehended  by  a 
common  understanding.  Whoever,  therefore,  takes 
tliis  book  in  hnnd,  and  finds  passages  in  it  not 
easily  intelligible,  let  hiin  not  throw  it  by  as  a 
thing  of  no  value,  nor  content  himself  with  a  bare 
perusal ;  but  let  him  read  it  over  and  over  again  ; 
and  let  him  study  the  drift  and  design  of  the  au- 
thor ;  and  I  will  answer  for  it,  that  the  more  and 
oftener  he  reads  it,  the  more  instruction  and  de- 
light he  will  receive  from  it.  The  author  has  a 
depth,  which  if  once  fathomed  (and  it  is  not  unfath- 
oauable)  will  yield  the  noblest  repast  to  a  pious 
mind.  But  if  any  one  imagines  that  I  say  this  to 
puff  a  book,  in  the  sale  of  which  my  interest  is  so 
nearly  concerned,  any  gentleman  is  welcome  to 
peruse  it  at  my  shop,  and  to  purchase  it  or  not,  as 
his  own  judgment  shall  direct  him. 

Nothing  recommends  a  book  more  effectually  to 
the  public  than  the  eminence  and  credit  of  its 
author ;  nothing  is  more  notorious,  than  that  a 
weak  performance,  if  it  appears  under  a  great 
name,  shall  be  better  received  in  the  world  than 
tlie  most  sublime  and  ingenious  productions  of  an 
obscure  person  ;  so  that  it  is  not  merit  but  prejudice 
that  generally  governs  the  judgment  of  men. 

Though  the  author  of  Arcana  Calestia  is  un- 
doubtedly a  very  learned  and  great  man,  and  his 
works  highly  esteemed  by  the  literati,  yet  he  is  no 
less  distinguished  for  his  modesty  than  his  great 
talents,  so  that  he  will  not  suffer  his  name  to  be 
made  public.  But  though  I  am  positively  forbid 
to  discover  that,  yet  I  hope  he  will  excuse  me  if 
I  venture  to  mention  his  benign  and  generous 
qualities.  How  he  bestowed  his  time  and  labors  in 
former  years,  I  am  not  certainly  informed  ;  (though  I 
have  heard  by  those  who  have  been  long  acquainted 
with  him,  that  they  were  employed  in  the  same 
manner  as  I  am  going  to  relate  ;)  but  what  I  have 
been  an  eye  witness  to,  I  can  declare  with  certain 
truth ;  and  therefore  I  do  aver,  that  this  gentle- 
man, with  indefatigable  pains  and  labor,  spent  one 
whole  year  in  studying  and  writing  the  first  volume 
of  Arcana  Calestia,  was  at  the  expense  of  two  hun- 
dred pounds  to  print  it,  and  also  advanced  two 
hundred  pounds  more  for  the  printing  of  this  sec- 
ond volume  ;  and  when  he  had  done  this,  he  gave 
express  orders  that  all  the  money  that  should  arise 
in  the  sale  of  this  large  work  should  be  given  to- 
wards the  charge  of  the  propagation  of  the  Gos- 
pel. He  is  so  far  from  desiring  to  make  a  gain  of 
his  labors,  that  he  will  not  receive  one  farthing 
back,  of  the  four  hundred  pounds  he  hath  ex- 
pended :  and  for  that  reason  his  works  will  come 
exceedingly  cheap  to  the  public. 

I  further  declare  I  have  not  the  least  reason  in 
the  world  to  believe  him  a  bigot  to  any  mode  or 
mechod  of  religion  ;  I  know  not  what  community  he 
belongs  to,  or  whether  he  belongs  to  any  ;  if  any 


one  can  guess  by  his  writings,  he  knows  where 
to  find  tliem.  But  it  matters  not  what  or  who  tlie 
person  is  that  writes,  if  his  writings  are  founded 
on  truth,  and  agreeable  to  such  learned  men  as  arc 
competent  judges  of  them.  The  deepest  and  most 
learned,  as  well  as  most  valuable  pieces,  are  some- 
times misunderstood  and  rejected  many  years,  even 
by  learned  men  themselves  ;  to  instance  only  tJiree 
performances  out  of  the  many  tiiat  might  be  pro- 
duced, viz.  Locke  on  Human  Understanding, 
Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  and  Prideaux's  Connection 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  Those  who  have 
been  conversant  with  books,  especially  in  the  trad- 
ing way,  cannot  be  ignorant  of  the  difficulties 
which  these  valuable  pieces  have  met  with  in  mak- 
ing their  way  into  the  world  ;  and  it  is  as  remark- 
able now  to  observe,  how  they  have  been  called 
for  and  admired  for  many  years  past. 

How  this  great  work  of  .'Ircana  Calestia  will 
succeed  in  the  world,  is  impossible  at  present  to 
determine.  If  all  men  of  learning  were  of  the 
same  mind  with  the  ingenious  and  pious  Mr.  Penny, 
of  Dartmouth,  we  need  not  fear  success  :  for  in  his 
letter  to  me,  on  the  publication  of  the  first  volume, 
are  these  following  words  :  —  "I  have  long  ardent- 
ly wished  to  see  the  historical  part  of  the  Old 
Testament,  which  seems  only  to  regard  the  Jewish 
Dispensation,  (and  upon  that  account  too  lightly 
regarded  by  the  major  part  of  thi'  Christian  world) 
proved  to  be  as  delightful,  instructive,  and  as  ne- 
cessary for  the  knowledge  of  Christians  as  the  JVew. 
This,  Jircana  Calestia  gives  me  the  fullest  satisfac- 
tion of,  &c."  A  copy  of  this  letter  was  printed 
at  large  in  the  Daily  Advertiser  of  Christmas  day, 
1749.  Now  this  delightful,  instructive,  and  ne- 
cessary knowledge,  cannot  be  expected  from  this 
part  of  Holy  Writ,  unless  the  historical  part  of  the 
Old  Testament  be  allegorized  m  some  sucli  man- 
ner as  our  Latin  author  has  here  done  it.  And  the 
great  and  learned  as  well  as  the  inspired  St.  Paul, 
clearly  gives  encouragement  to  this  way  of  writ- 
ing, Gal.  iv.  24.  And  our  author  neither  rejects 
nor  disturbs  the  literal  sense  by  his  allegorical  ex- 
position. 

Soon  after  the  publication  of  Mr.  Penny's  letter 
before  mentioned,  a  grave,  judicious  and  learned 
gentleman  was  pleased  to  call  at  one  of  the  book- 
sellers where  this  famous  Latin  book  was  appointed 
to  be  sold  ;  and  when  he  had  cast  his  eye  over  part 
of  the  work,  he  inquired  who  the  author  was;  but 
being  told  that  the  author  would  not  be  known, 
—  "Well,"  (said  the  gentleman)  "  I  confess  that 
at  these  years  1  am  not  fond  of  new  acquaintance, 
but  should  be  extremely  glad  to  have  some  con- 
versation with  him  ;  for,"  (continued  lie,  with  great 
earnestness,)  "  I  never  saw,  nor  heard,  nor  read,  of 
so  surprising  a  man  in  all  my  days  !  " 

Any  one  of  small  judgment  may  guess  at  the 
cheapness  of  the  work,  when  he  finds  that  six 
lunidred  and  forty  quarto  pages  in  Latin,  of  tlie 
first  volume,  are  sold  for  no  more  than  six  shillings, 
unbound.  But  this  second  volume,  which  is  now 
publishing  in  Latin  and  English,  will  be  unac- 
countably cheap,  as  any  one  may  conclude,  even 
from  the  postage  of  the  Latin  copy  from  abroad : 
for  the  bare  postage  of  this  first  number  cost  no 
less  than  twelve  shillings,  and  now  it  is  printed, 
doth  make  fifty-two  quarto  pages  in  the  English 
tongue  ;  and  all  to  be  sold  for  no  more  than  eight 
pence,  which  is  not  half  the  price  that  such  a 
quantity  of  paper  and  print  is  generally  sold  for. 
The  postage  of  the  second  number  came  to  eigh- 
teen shillings  ;  and  that  of  the  third  amounted 
to  one  pound  two  shillings  ;  and  yet  these  tw^, 
!  numbers  are  to  be  sold  for  no  more  than  ninepence 


126 


APPENDIX. 


each  ;  so  that  from  hence  it  is  easy  to  imagine 
how  cheap  the  whole  will  be,  especially  when  print- 
ed in  such  a  grand  and  pompous  manner  at  so  low 
a  price.  But  it  is  the  generous  author's  absolute 
command  that  it  should  be  so,  who,  it  is  plain,  wants 
neither  purse  nor  spirit  to  carry  on  his  laudable  un- 
dertaking. 

As  the  copy  comes  from  a  foreign  country,  and 
as  one  number  may  contain  nearly  double  the 
quantity  of  another,  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  fix 
a  certain  regular  time  for  the  publication  of  each. 
But  this  the  public  may  be  assured  of,  that  when 
a  fresh  number  is  published,  it  shall  be  advertised 
in  the  newspapers.  Those  who  are  pleased  to 
give  their  orders  to  the  news  carriers,  will  have 
every  number  as  certainly  as  though  they  were 
apprised  of  the  certain  time  of  its  coming  out. 
And  the  price  will  be  printed  on  the  title  of  each 
English  number,  (and  every  Latin  number  will  be 
of  the  same  price  with  the  English,)  so  that  the 
readers  may  be  sure  that  they  will  not  be  imposed 
upon  ;  for  sometimes  the  bulk  of  the  work  will 
plainly  appear  to  be  worth  five  times  as  much  as 
will  be  required  for  it. 

Those  who  are  so  happy  as  to  be  well  acquainted 
with  the  Latin  tongue,  will  be  highly  delighted 
with  the  author's  elegant  and  sublime  language. 

First  Reception  of  the  Writings  of  Swedenborg. 

500.  The  first  volume  of  the  Arcana  Ccelestia,  con- 
taining the  explanation  of  the  first  fifteen  chapters 
of  Genesis,  was  published  in  London,  in  the  Latin 
language,  in  the  year  1749,  and  was  the  earliest 
of  Swedenborg's  theological  works.  Our  readers 
will  not  be  displeased  to  see  the  following  letter, 
from,  probably,  the  first  person  who  embraced  the 
truths  it  contains,  expressing  the  satisfaction  he 
derived  from  it.  Though  not  a  document  of  any 
decided  importance,  it  is  interesting  as  a  curiosity, 
and  as  evincing  that  the  truths  of  the  New  Church 
found  some  receivers  on  their  very  first  publication. 
This  letter  was  sent  to  the  Daily  Mvertiser,  for- 
merly a  popular  newspaper,  of  Christmas  day, 
1749,  by  the  publisher  of  the  work,  and  is  intro- 
duced by  his  business-like  note,  to  the  Editor,  as 
follows  :  — 

"Sir, 

"  If  you  will  insert  the  following  letter  in  your 
paper,  it  may  induce  the  curious  in  the  learned 
world,  to  peruse  a  work  very  entertaining  and 
pleasant,  and  oblige, 

"  Sir,  yours,  &c. 

"John  Lewis. 

" '  To  Mr.  John  Lewis,  in  Paternoster  Row, 
Cheapside,  London. 

'"Dartmouth,  October  15,  1749. 
"'Mr.  John  Lewis, 

"  '  Sir,  —  Accidentally  reading  the  advertisement 
of  the  Arcana  Calestia,  excited  by  the  oddness  of 
the  title,  I  presently  ordered  my  friend  in  London 
to  send  me  one.  The  extraordinary  degree  of 
pleasure  the  reading  of  it  has  given  me,  and  the 
yet  more  expected  from  what  more  is  to  be  pub- 
lished, induces  m3  to  request  advice  as  often  as 
any  new  publication  happens,  which  I  apprehend  to 
be  designed  annually.  My  reason  for  troubling 
you,  is,  because  I  very  rarely  see  any  of  the  pub- 
lic papers,  and,  consequently,  future  advertisements 
may  escape  my  knowledge ;  which,  I  hope  will  ex- 
cuse me. 

"  '  I  have  long  ardently  wished  to  see  the  histor- 
ical part  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  seems  only 
to  regard  the  Jewl',h   dispensation  (and  upon  that 


account  is  too  lightly  regarded  by  the  major  part  of 
the  present  Christian  world),  proved  to  be  as  delight- 
ful, instructive,  and  as  necessary  for  the  knowl- 
edge of  (christians  as  the  New,  This  the  Arcana 
Ccelestia  gives  me  the  fullest  satisfaction  of.  But 
the  illumined  author,  whoever  he  is,  (is  it  Mr. 
Law  ?)  must  expect  a  considerable  army  of  gown 
men  to  draw  their  pens  against  him  :  it  is  a  bless- 
ing their  power  is  prescribed  within  impassable 
bounds, 

"  '  The  favor  of  a  line  in  answer,  to  know  what 
dependence  I  may  make  upon  you,  will  very  much 
oblige.  Sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"  '  Stephen  Penny.  . 

"  '  P.  S,  Perhaps  the  author  was  concerned  in  the 
publication  of  Mr.  Hutchinson's  works  ?  lias  he 
published  any  other  work,  and  at  what  price  ?  '  " 

To  this  the  bookseller  appends  the  following 
notice : 

"  This  large  Latin  book  is  neatly  printed  in  4to. ; 
and  sold  by  Mr.  Nourse,  at  the  Lamb,  opposite 
Katharine  Street,  in  the  Strand  ;  Mr.  Ware,  at  the 
Bible  onLudgate  Hill ;  and  by  John  Lewis,  printer 
of  the  same,  as  above  mentioned ;  price  6s,  unbound." 

Notice  of  the  Loudon  Monthly  Review. 

501.  In  the  London  Monthly  Review  for 


1844,  is  an  article  on  the  discoveries  in  science 
made  by  Swedcnborg,  concluding  thus : 

"  In  conclusion,  we  record  our  opinion  positively, 
and  not  relatively  ;  wholly,  and  without  reserva- 
tion, that  if  the  mode  of  reasoning  and  explana- 
tion adopted  by  Swedenborg  be  once  under- 
stood, the  anatomist  and  physiologist  will  acquire 
more  information,  and  obtain  a  more  comprehen- 
sive view  of  the  human  body,  and  its  relation  to  a 
higher  sphere,  than  from  any  single  book  ever  pub- 
lished ;  nay,  we  may  add,  than  from  all  the  books 
which  have  been  written  (especially  in  modern 
times)  on  physiology,  or,  as  it  has  been  lately  named, 
transcendental  anatomy. 

"  Swedenborg  reasons  not  on  any  hypothesis,  not 
on  any  theory,  not  on  any  favorite  doctrine  of  a 
fashionable  school,  but  on  the  solid  principles  of 
geometry,  based  on  the  immutable  rock  of  truth  ; 
and  he  must  and  will  be  considered  at  no  distant 
period  the  Zoroaster  of  Europe,  and  the  Promethe- 
us of  a  new  era  of  reason,  however  at  present  the 
clouds  of  prejudice  may  intervene,  or  the  storms 
of  passion  obscure  the  corruscations  of  his  intel- 
lect." 

Extract  from  the  Commencement   of  Wilkin- 
son's Biography. 

502.  "  There  is,  in  the  present  day,  a  constantly 
increasing  inquiry  among  intelligent  persons,  re- 
specting the  life  and  labors  of  Swedenborg,  whose 
name  begins  to  be  whispered,  with  more  or  less 
respect,  and  with  undefined  feelings,  throughout 
Christendom.  We  are  no  followers  of  Sweden- 
borg, although  we  accept  his  views  of  Christian- 
ity, but  not  because  he  discovered  them,  but  be- 
cause they  were  there  to  be  discovered,  and  are 
true.  The  truth,  we  believe,  is  not  arrested  pr 
contained  by  any  man,  but  as  soon  as  found,  the 
mind  may  pass  from  that  level,  and  rise  from 
it  as  a  vantage  ground  to  new  trutlk-;.  It  is,  there- 
fore, in  the  service  of  the  public,  and  not  of 
Swedenborg,  that  we  write  these  pages;  for  the 
time  has  come  when  every  enlightened  man  and 
woman  ought,  for  their  own  sakes,  to  know  of 
Swedenborg  and  his  pretensions. 

"  For  consider  the  case.  Here  was  an  au- 
thor, flourishing  in  the  last  century,  whose  princi- 
pal works  were  written  from  1721  to  1772,  and  who, 


APPENDIX. 


127 


enjoying  at  first  a  jjood  reputation  as  a  scientific  and 
practical  man,  saw  that  reputation  gradually  expire 
as  his  own  mind  unfolded  in  his  works,  until  at 
length  he  was  only  known  as  a  visiunary,  and  tiie 
fact  of"  his  early  career  was  scarcely  renicrnbered 
by  his  few  surviving  contemporaries.  There  was 
every  reason  why  his  works  dietl  to  that  age.  He 
had  a  firm  faith,  from  the  first,  in  the  goodness  of 
God,  in  the  powers  of  tiie  mind,  in  the  wisdom 
and  easiness  of  creation,  and  in  the  immovable 
firmness  of  revelation ;  later  on,  a  belief  too  in 
spiritual  existence,  in  a  sense  intelligible  to  all 
mankind.  In  his  case,  there  was  a  breaking  of 
shell  after  shell  —  a  rolling  away  of  delusion  after 
delusion,  until  the  truth  was  seen  to  be  itself  real 
—  to  be  the  true  creation,  the  world  above  and  be- 
fore the  world,  of  which  mortal  creatures  are  made. 
How  could  so  substantial  a  personage — a  man  whose 
spirit  and  its  relations  were  a  body  and  a  force  — 
be  seen  at  all  in  the  last  century,  when  the  public 
wave  ran  in  spruig  tides  towards  materialism, 
frivolity,  and  all  conventionalities  1  The  savage 
might  as  easily  value  a  telescope  or  a  theodolite 
as  Europe  estimate  a  Swedenborg  at  such  an  era. 
Accordirigly,  m  proportion  as  he  transcended  brute 
matter  and  dead  facts,  he  vanished  from  its  sight, 
and  was  only  mentioned  with  ridicule  as  a  ghost 
seer  —  the  next  thing  to  a  ghost.  But  how  stands 
the  matter  now  ?  The  majority,  it  is  true,  know 
nothing  of  Swedenborg ;  and  it  is  for  them  we 
write.  But  the  vast  majority  of  those  who  do 
know  —  and  the  number  is  considerable  in  all 
parts  of  tlie  civilized  world  —  regard  him  with 
respect  and  affectionate  admiration  ;  many  hailing 
him  as  the  herald  of  a  new  church  upon  earth ;  many 
as  a  gift  of  the  same  provident  deity  who  has  sent,  as 
indirect  messengers,  the  other  secular  leaders  of 
the  race,  — the  great  poets,  the  great  philosophers, 
the  guiding  intellects  of  the  sciences  ;  many  also 
still  looking  towards  his  works  in  order  to  gain  in- 
struction from  them,  and  to  settle  for  themselves  the 
author's  place  among  the  benefactors  of  his  kind. 
We  ourselves  are  in  all  these  classes,  allowing 
them  to  modify  each  other  ;  and  perhaps,  on  that 
account,  are  suitable  to  address  those  who  know 
less  of  the  subject,  for  we  have  no  position  to 
maintain  but  the  facts  of  the  case. 

"  Now  whence  this  change  in  public  opin- 
ion ?  It  has  been  the  most  silent  of  revolutions, 
a  matter  almost  of  signs  and  whispers.  Sweden- 
borg's  admirers  have  simply  kept  his  books  before 
the  public,  and  given  them  their  good  word  when 
opportunity  ofTered.  The  rest  has  been  done  over 
the  heads  of  men,  by  tlie  course  of  events,  by  the 
advance  of  the  sciences,  by  our  new  liberties  of 
thought,  by  whatever  makes  man  from  ignorant, 
enlightened,  and  from  sensual,  refined  and  spiritu- 
alized. In  short,  it  is  the  world's  progress  under 
Providence  which  has  brought  it  to  Swedenborg's 
door.  For  where  a  new  truth  has  been  discovered, 
that  truth  has  said  a  courteous  word  for  Sweden- 
borg ;  where  a  new  science  has  sprung  up  and  en- 
tered upon  its  conquests,  that  science  has  pointed 
with  silent-speaking  finger  to  something  friendly 
to,  and  suggestive  of,  itself  in  Swedenborg;  where 
a  new  spirit  has  entered  the  world,  that  spirit  has 
flown  to  its  mate  in  Swedenborg ;  where  the  age 
has  felt  its  own  darkness  and  confessed  it,  the 
students  of  Swedenborg  have  been  convinced  that 
tliere  was  in  him  much  of  the  light  which  all  hearts 
were  seeking.  And  so  forth.  The  fact  then  is, 
that  an  unbelieving  century  could  see  notliing  in 
Swedenborg  ;  that  its  successor,  more  trustful  and 
truthful,  sees   more  and  more  ;  and  strong  indica- 


tions exist  that  in  another  five  and  twenty  years 
the  field  occupied  by  this  author  must  be  visited 
by  the  leaders  of  opinion  tn  mas.te,  and  whether 
they  will  or  no;  because  it  is  not  proselytism  that 
will  take  them  there,  but  the  expansion  and  cul- 
mination of  the  truth,  and  the  organic  course  of 
events.  The  following  pages  will  have  their  end 
if  they  be  one  pioneer  of  this  path  which  the 
learned  and  the  rulers  are  to  traverse." 

Testimony  of  Professor  Gorres, 

Of  Germmii/,  Proftxsor  of  Roman  Catholic  The- 
olo<i;y  at  one  of  the  German  Universities. 

.503.  "  Throughout  the  whole  of  Swedenborg's 
voluminous  works  every  thing  appears  simple  and 
uniform,  especially  as  to  the  tone  in  which  he 
writes,  in  which  there  is  no  effort  at  display  in  the 
imaginative  powers,  nothing  overwrought,  nothing 
fantastic,  nothing  that  can,  in  the  remotest  degree, 
be  construed  into  a  morbid  bias  of  a  prevailing 
mental  activity,  nothing  indicating  a  fixed  idea,  or 
manifesting  any  peculiarity  of  a  commencing  men- 
tal derangement.  Every  thing  he  undertakes  is 
developed  in  a  calm  and  measured  manner,  like  the 
resolution  and  demonstration  of  a  mathematical 
problem,  and  every  where  the  operations  of  a  mind 
composed  and  well  ordered  shine  forth,  with  con- 
viction as  to  the  certainty  of  the  results  of  its  ac- 
tivity. In  the  cultivation  of  science,  sincerity  and 
simplicity  of  heart  are  necessary  requirements  to 
the  attainment  of  durable  success.  We  never 
observe  that  Swedenborg  was  subject  to  that  pride 
by  the  influence  of  which  so  many  great  spirits 
have  fallen ;  he  always  remained  the  same  sub- 
dued and  modest  mind  ;  and  never,  either  by  suc- 
cess, or  by  any  consideration,  lost  his  mental  equi- 
librium." . 

Extract  from  the   Ulemoir  by  Rev.  O.  Pres- 
cott  Hiller. 

504.  "A  man,  —  a  human  being  like  ourselves, 

—  has  been  chosen  by  the  Divine  will,  as  the  in- 
strument for  conveying  these  truths  to  the  world. 
And  as  Moses,  a  man  like  ourselves,  was  chosen 
of  old,  to  be  the  instrument  for  bringing  into  the 
land  of  Canaan  the  people  with  whom  a  represen- 
tative Church  was  to  be  established,  and  who  was 
called  too,  (man  though  he  was)  up  into  the  mount 
to  speak  with  God,  and  receive  the  tables  of  his 
law ;  —  as  Paul,  a  man,  too,  like  ourselves,  was 
chosen,  at  the  commencement  of  a  former  dispen- 
sation, to  be  an  apostle  to  teach  the  new  truth  to 
the  world,  and,  in  order  to  enlighten  and  strength- 
en him  for  that  work,  was  admitted  in  spirit  to  a 
view  of  the  heavens  and  even  of  the  Lord  Himself: 

—  so  now,  in  our  own  day,  at  the  commencement 
of  another  Dispensation  of  Divine  truth,  at  this  the 
time  of  the  Lord's  second  coming  in  the  light  of 
the  Spiritual  Sense  of  His  Word,  has  another  indi- 
vidual, —  a  man,  like  ourselves,  —  been  raised  up  as 
the  instrument  for  making  known  to  the  world  the 
truths  and  doctrines  of  that  New  Church  which  is 
about  to  be  established  on  the  earth  —  the  JVew  Je- 
rusalem. The  herald  will  not  be  received  nor  be- 
lieved, for  a  time ;  he  has  been,  and  he  will  be, 
slandered  and  reviled ;  he  has  been  and  will  con- 
tinue to  be,  by  some  and  for  a  while,  pronounced 
a  mystic  and  a  madman ;  the  interested,  the  preju- 
diced, and  the  self-confident  will  scoff  at  him,  as 
the  proud  Athenians  scoffed  at  Paul  preaching  to 
them  the  truth  —  as  the  doctors  of  the  Jewish 
Church  scorned  the  words  of  Him  who  was  the 
Truth  itself.  But  these  things  will  be  only  for  a 
time.     'Truth  i^  strong  and  will  prevail.'     There 


128 


APPENDIX. 


are  always  a  few  candid  and  earnest  minds  in  the 
community,  anxious  for  the  truth,  and  ready  to  seek 
it  wherever  it  is  to  be  found,  and  to  follow  whither- 
soever it  leads.  Such  there  were,  even  in  Swe- 
denborsr's  lifetime,  —  men  too  of  high  character, 
intelligence,  and  education,  —  who  perceived  the 
truth  of  the  principles  he  taught,  received  them 
with  delight,  and  sought  to  make  them  known  to 
others.  Since  his  death,  the  number  has  been 
steadily  increasing,  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  And 
withm  a  kw  years  past,  many  of  the  profound  and 
original  thinkers  of  the  age  have  repaired  to  his 
pages,  as  their  chief  source  of  instruction,  and  have 
acknowledged  that  they  could  find  there  satisfac- 
tory answers  to  their  inquiries,  that  could  be  found 
nowhere  else,  in  the  wliole  range  of  moral,  theo- 
logical, and  philosophical  writers.  The  signs  of 
the  times  are  now  giving  token  of  a  change  and  a 
great  change,  in  tlie  view  generally  entertained  of 
this  author.  As  he  becomes  more  known,  surprise 
and  admiration  take  the  place  of  neglect  and  con- 
tempt ;  the  earnest  searchers  for  truth  wonder  that 
they  had  not  been  directed  to  this  light  before  — 
the  intellectual  and  the  learned  are  astonished  that 
they  had  passed  by  a  thinker  and  writer,  who  far 
excels  them  both  in  intellect  and  learning;  and  the 
admirers  and  collectors  of  great  names  are  begin- 
ning to  admit  his  into  their  list.  And  we  venture 
the  prediction,  that  as  years  roll  by,  and  these  writ- 
ings are  examined,  explored,  understood,  more 
and  more  thoroughly  —  as  the  world  grows  wiser 
and  better  —  as  the  darkness  of  old  error  passes 
off,  and  the  light  of  truth  increases — the  name  of 
SwEDENBORG  wiU  shine  the  brightest  in  the  whole 
galaxy  of  great  names,  and  his  memory  be  revered 
as  that  of  the  most  powerful  and  most  useful  of  all 
the  human  instruments  whom  Heaven  has  raised 
up,  to  communicate  truth,  goodness,  and  happiness 
to  mankind." 

Testimony  of  the  late  Rev.  John  Clowes,  A.  M., 

Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  Rector 
of  St.  Johti's  Church,  [Episcopal)  Manchester, 
England. 

505.  "The  author  (of  this  Memoir)  cannot  con- 
clude his  ntrrJtive,  without  offering  up  to  the 
Father  of  Mercies  his  most  devout  and  grateful 
acknowledgments  for  the  extraordinary  privilege, 
and  inestimable  blessing  vouchsafed  him,  in  having 
been  admitted  to  the  knowledge  and  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  trutli  and  importance  of  the  doctrines 
unfolded  by  Swedenborg  from  the  Word  of  God 
as  the  genuine  doctrines  of  Christianity.  For  what 
worldiv  glorv,  gain,  or  happiness,  can  stand  in 
competition  with  this — to  know  Jesus  Christ  to 
be  the  '  only  true  God,'  and  to  be  allowed  to  ap- 
proach and  worship  Him  in  his  Divine  Humanitj/  : 
to  be  delivered  thus  from  all  perplexity  as  to  the 
proper  object  of  worship  ;  to  see,  at  the  same  time, 
the  divine  volume  of  Revelation  opened  ;  its  inte- 
rior treasures  displayed  ;  its  evidence  and  author- 
ity thus  confirmed  by  its  divine  contents ;  its  ap- 
parent contradictions  reconciled  ;  whilst  all  that  is 
divine  and  holy,  all  that  is  good  and  true,  all  that 
is  calculated  to  excite  the  veneration  of  intelli- 
gent beings,  and  the  affection  of  penitent  ones  ; 
all,  in  short,  that  has  a  tendency  either  to  enlighten 
the  human  understanding,  or  to  purify  the  human 
will ;  either  to  edify,  by  the  bright  and  proud  les- 
Bons  of  divine  truth,  or  to  soften  and  console  by 


the  sweet  and  tender  influences  of  the  divine  love, 
is  perceived  to  proceed  from  this  Divine  Fountain, 
as  its  only  source  !  Yet  such  is  the  transcendent 
glory,  gain,  and  happiness  imparted  to  every  peni- 
tent and  devout  receiver  of  the  above  Heavenly 
Doctrines.  Add  to  this,  the  nearness  and  connec- 
tion between  this  world  and  another,  demonstrated 
by  such  a  weight  of  irresistible  evidence  ;  the  great 
evangelical  doctrines  of  Faith,  of  Charity,  of  Re- 
pentance and  Remission  of  Sins,  of  Temptation, 
Reformation,  Regeneration,  and  the  Freedom  of 
the  Will,  opened,  explained,  and  enforced,  accord- 
ing to  their  edifying  and  important  meaning  ;  the 
nature,  also,  and  effect  of  the  Last  Judgment,  the 
Lord's  Second  Advent,  and  the  descent  of  the  New 
Jerusalem,  presented  to  view  in  all  the  brightness 
and  fulness  of  truth,  and  confirmed  by  the  testi- 
mony of  the  sure  Word  of  prophecy  ;  and  some 
faint  idea  may  then  be  formed  of  the  immense  debt 
of  gratitude,  owing  at  this  day  from  all  the  fami- 
lies of  the  earth  to  their  Heavenly  Father.  For 
who,  except  that  Father,  '  whose  tender  mercies 
are  over  all  His  works,'  could  thus  cause  '  His 
light  to  shine  in  darkness '  for  the  deliverance  of 
His  people  from  evil,  from  error,  and  from  destruc- 
tion, and,  at  the  same  time,  for  the  guidance  of 
their  feet  into  the  ways  of  righteousness,  truth, 
and  salvation  ?  To  his  praises,  and  most  un- 
feigned thankfulness  on  this  occasion,  the  author 
is  lastly  urgent  to  add  his  ardent  prayers,  that  the 
above  '  glorious  light '  may  shine  in  every  corner 
of  the  habitable  globe,  until  the  whole  earth  be- 
comes that  blessed  '  tabernacle  of  God,'  which  was 
announced  to  be  '  with  men,'  in  which  '  God  will 
dwell  and  be  with  them  their  God,  and  wipe  away 
all  tears  from  their  eyes'  (Rev.  xxi.  3,  4)." 

The  New  Church. 

506.  "  The  reception  of  the  Doctrines  of  the 
New  Church  has  slowly,  but  constantly  increased, 
from  the  time  when  Swedenborg  began  to  teach 
them,  up  to  the  present  moment.  Those  who  be- 
come fully  impressed  with  their  truth,  and  with  the 
desire  to  live  according  to  them,  usually  endeavor 
to  connect  themselves  with  each  other,  and  to  form 
societies  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  encouragement 
and  instruction.  This  effort  commonly  results  in 
the  building  of  churches,  establishment  of  preach- 
ing, and  performance  of  religious  services,  very 
much  in  the  ordinary  congregational  and  episcopal 
forms.  There  are  now  in  England  some  seventy- 
five  ministers  or  preachers  of  the  Doctrines,  and 
in  the  United  States  about  sixty.  The  number  of 
places,  however,  where  receivers  are  known  to 
reside,  is  much  larger,  being  in  the  United  States, 
about  four  hundred  and  fifty.  There  are  also 
many  known  in  France,  Germany,  and  Sweden, 
and  some  in  other  countries.  In  Sweden  the  New 
Church  Doctrines  have  not  been  preached  openly 
as  such,  on  account  of  the  established  church  ; 
but  it  is  understood  that  many  of  the  clergy  thero 
are  well  acquainted  with  Swedenborg's  writings, 
and  instruct  their  people  in  accordance  with  them, 
altiiough  not  openly  professing  the  source  of  their 
instruction. 

"  The  Receivers  of  the  Heavenly  Doctrines 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  Church,  await  patiently  to 
be  joined  by  their  fellow-men,  in  the  glad  confi- 
dence that  there  is  a  good  time  coming,  when  the 
wiiolc  Christian  world  will  rejoice  in  the  light  of 
the  New  Jerusalem."  — //o6ar/'s  Life,  p.  276. 


INTRODUCTION 


TO    THE    COMPENDIUM 


The  Compiler  of  this  work  has  endeavored  to 
answer  a  want  which  has  been  deeply  felt,  and 
which,  at  the  present  crisis,  seems  more  pressing 
than  ever.  It  is  a  time  of  unparalleled  interest  in 
spiritual  truths.  It  is  a  time,  in  God's  Providence, 
when  the  old  systems  of  theology  are  evidently 
breaking  up  and  passing  down  the  stream  of  Time 
—  when  ancient  authorities  are  questioned  with  a 
bold  and  determined  aspect  —  and  the  most  keen 
and  searching  glances  are  sent  into  every  creed. 
It  is  a  time,  too,  of  much  doubt  and  confusion  — 
of  the  most  bare  and  unblushing  infidelity  —  of  a 
deeper  and  wider  knowledge  of  Nature  on  the  one 
hand,  and  a  more  lamentable  ignorance  and  denial 
of  God  on  the  other.  It  is,  as  a  consequence,  an 
age  of  extremes.  The  freedom  of  the  human 
mind,  for  which  Ave  are  now  so  distinguished,  has 
revealed  to  many  the  hideous  deficiences  of  the  so 
called  Protestant  fiitli,  and  driven  them  to  a  ref- 
uge in  Catholic  authority.  It  has  become  too  evi- 
dent, that  the  prevalent  theology  will  not  bear  the 
piercing  test  which  it  is  now  submitted  to  —  that 
the  better  reason  flees  from  it,  a  million  times  in 
secret,  and  many  times  in  open  affront ;  and  that 
thus,  where  the  religious  tendencies  predominate, 
there  is  either  a  backward  movement  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  to  save  the  fear  and  trouble  of 
thinking,  or  a  melancholy  indifference  to  all  that 
demands  a  Philosophy  commensurate  with  Faith; 
while  on  the  other  hand,  where  the  natural  reason 
predominates,  there  is  a  tendency  to  flee  from  all 
venerated  "  theologies,"  to  the  open  fields  of  Na- 
ture and  her  pantheistic  enticements.  There  is  a 
middle  class,  who  still  strive  to  reconcile  their  va- 
rious theologies  with  the  Reason  that  so  urgently 
impels,  and  who  are  really  doing  much  to  save 
many  fragments  of  truth,  and  adapt  them  at  once 
to  the  science,  philosophy,  and  theology  of  the 
soul.  But  amidst  the  whole,  what  dread  confu- 
sion and  scepticism !  How  much  doubt,  even  of 
tlie  future,  immortal  life  of  man ! 

But  again,  we  are  opening  into  new  and  strange 
wonders.  New  indeed,  to  those  who  now  first 
realize  them ;  not  so  new  in  the  history  and  expe- 
rience of  man.  The  whole  Past  has  been  fruitful 
of  a  varied  spiritual  experience ;  and  we  are  now 
really  experiencing  nothing  but  what  has  been 
better  and  more  fully  attested  in  ages  long  since 
gone  by.  Not  so,  however,  the  sceptical  philoso- 
1 


phy  of  the  day.  "  The  secret  of  heaven  "  (says 
Emerson)  "  is  kept  from  age  to  age.  No  impru- 
dent, sociable  angel,  ever  dropped  an  early  sylla- 
ble to  answer  the  longing  of  saints,  the  fears  of 
mortals.  We  should  have  listened  on  our  knees 
to  any  favorite,  who,  by  stricter  obedience,  had 
brought  his  thoughts  into  parallelism  with  the  ce- 
lestial currents,  and  could  hint  to  human  ears  the 
scenery  and  circumstance  of  the  newly-parted 
soul."  *  This  is  the  utterance  of  the  merest, 
most  refined  naturalism  of  our  age.  So  low  has 
philosophy  fallen  in  her  high  places !  Yet  it  ex- 
presses the  yearning  wants  of  the  human  soul. 
The  transcendental  Philosophy  of  this  age  would 
get  down  upon  its  kntts  for  any,  even  the  faintest 
whisper,  from  the  mysterious  dwellings  of  eter- 
nity. But  upon  such  ears,  no  sociable  angel  ever 
dropped  a  syllable  !  It  would  be  better  to  ascribe 
the  cause  to  the  right  party. 

Now,  that  we  are  approaching  an  Era  of  marked 
spiritual  truth,  it  would  seem  useless  to  deny. 
Notwithstanding  the  immensely  higher  truth  which 
has,  at  least  for  a  century,  been  already  in  the 
world,  to  wit,  in  the  pages  of  our  Author,  yet  Prov- 
idence is  evidently  now  permitting  an  external  and 
visible  communication  from  spirits  out  of  the  ma- 
terial body,  with  the  men  of  our  earth,  to  the  end, 
among  others,  that  the  sensual  philosophy  of  oui 
times,  and  the  gross  unbelief  of  the  church  and 
the  world,  may  find  its  proper  antidote  in  these 
tangible  and  sensuous  phenomena.  Of  the  heights 
and  depths  of  this  most  palpable  demonstration,  of 
its  measure  of  truth  and  falsity,  of  its  infernal  de- 
ceptions, and  the  willingness  with  which  so  many 
thousands  are  led  astray  by  a  converse  with  the 
other  world,  we  here  say  nothing.  Of  its  amount 
of  honesty  we  here  say  nothing.  It  is  sufficient 
here  to  say,  that  no  one  can  take  a  survey  of  the 
wide  extent  and  practice  of  this  very  evident  dem- 
onstration from  the  invisible  world,  without  be- 
lieving that  a  more  than  ordinary  movement  is  tak- 
ing place  in  the  world  of  spirits.  To  believe  that 
it  will  all  come  to  nothing,  does  not  comport  with 
the  best  ideas  of  Providence.  Should  it  even  al' 
end  here,  it  would  not  be  without  a  stirrmg  up  of 
the  minds  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  those  who 
most  needed  it,  to  a  faith,  realization,  and  knowl- 


*  ReprtitrOativt  Men,  p.  140. 


(1) 


INTRODUCTION. 


edge  of  immortal  verities  connected  with  undying 
man.  Sliould  it  all  end  even  to-day,  it  has  created 
an  epocii,  and  left  a  history  and  a  literature,  such 
as  it  is,  which  could  not  fail  to  stimulate  inquiry, 
and  connect  with  past  evidences,  for  ages  yet  to 
come.  But  we  do  not  believe  that  this  is  all, 
though  the  whole  phenomena  may  die  away,  and 
be  succeeded  by  other  and  higher  evidences.  As 
it  runs,  it  will  doubtless  have  the  effect,  among 
others,  to  turn  the  world's  attention  even  to  these 
writings,  which  we  here  preface  with  our  brief  re- 
marks. If  so,  thf  n  let  us  be  thankful  for  the  Prov- 
idence that  has  so  ordered.  The  whole  demon- 
stration will  undoubtedly  be  made  to  tell  in  the 
establishment  of  the  grand  truths  of  the  JVew  Jeru- 
salem.    Rev.  xxi.  1,  2. 

Such,  then,  in  brief,  are  the  times  in  which  we 
live.  At  such  a  crisis,  and  when  thousands  are 
inquiring  what  they  shall  believe,  and  to  what  the 
church,  witli  its  nameless  sects,  is  evidently  ap- 
proaching ;  in  the  midst,  too,  of  a  very  general  ex- 
pectation of  some  great  interposition  of  Providence 
in  the  affairs  of  men ;  it  is  certainly  a  desideratum 
to  have,  in  one  volume,  as  full  and  systematic  a 
coUection  as  may  be,  of  the  principles  and  state- 
ments of  the  greatest  Seer  who  has  yet  lived  or 
spoken.  Hitherto,  tlie  works  of  Swedenborg  have 
been  so  voluminous  as  to  confine  them,  chiefly, 
with  the  partial  exception  of  a  few  of  the  smaller 
volumes,  to  the  circle  of  his  more  immediate  fol- 
lowers. And  even  these,  from  not  being  read  in 
connection  with  his  larger  works,  or  from  not  be- 
ing aware  of  tlio  system  and  philosophy  which  per- 
vade and  characterize  the  whole  of  them,  have  fre- 
quently had  the  effect  to  discourage  and  drive 
away  many  minds,  who,  if  they  could  have  been 
.  presented  with  a  fuller  view,  would  have  experi- 
enced a  stronger  attachment,  if  not  a  full  recep- 
tion of  the  teachings  of  the  illustrious  Seer.  In- 
deed, to  an  entirely  new  inquirer,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  very  few  rarely  prepared  minds,  there  has 
been  hardly  a  volume  but  which,  more  or  less, 
would  realize  something  of  the  aforementioned  ef- 
fect upon  him. 

In  the  present  work,  an  attempt  has  been  made 
to  present,  from  some  thirty  volumes,  all  the  fun- 
damental principles  and  chief  teachings  of  Swe- 
denborg. Somethiiig,  and  that  the  best,  which  he 
has  said  on  every  topic  of  importance  which  he  has 
treated,  we  have  endeavored  here  to  present. 
That  we  have  in  every  case  fully  succeeded,  it 
would  be  both  immodest  and  unreasonable  to  pre- 
tend. How  laborious  is  such  a  work!  What 
judgment  is  required!  What  labor  of  condensa- 
tion, and  yet  what  fulness  of  representation! 
And  in  accomplishing  this  labor,  we  have  kept  a 
particular  eye  to  the  world  outside  of  the  "New 
Church,"  and  to  the  multitudes  of  all  sects,  and  of 
no  sect,  who  cannot,  as  yet,  enter  into  the  more 
abstruse  and  mystical  of  our  author's  productions, 
and  yet  who  may  be  expected  to  receive  an  in- 


crease of  truth,  more  or  less  ample,  according  to 
the  states  and  conditions  of  the  present  and  aH 
coming  times.  Still,  in  doing  this,  we  have  not 
withheld  the  highest  and  most  important  truths 
but  have  made  a  faithful,  full,  and  impartial  trans- 
cription. We  have  shunned  all  comments,  onl) 
giving,  here  and  there,  what  seemed  to  be  a  ne- 
cessary or  profitable  explanatory  note. 

The  reader  will  here  find  Swedenborg  in  brief. 
We  could  not,  of  course,  go  very  largely,  indeed 
but  very  little,  into  his  expositions  of  Scripture 
for  to  abridge  the  "  Arcana  Calestia,"  or  the  "  Jlpo'- 
alypse  Explained"  or  " Revealed"  could  not  pos- 
sibly fall  in  with  the  design  of  such  a  work  as  this. 
We  indeed  designed  more  than  we  have  accom- 
plished, even  in  the  matter  of  scriptural  exposi- 
tion ;  but  found  it  altogether  impracticable,  and 
inconsistent  with  the  bulk  of  the  work,  to  at- 
tempt much  of  this.  And  herein  may  be  a  Provi- 
dence ;  for  it  is  manifestly  certain,  that  an  es- 
tranged and  external  world  is  not  yet  prepared  for 
the  connected,  interior  sense  of  the  Word  of  God, 
such  as  would  be  involved  in  much  lengthy  ex- 
tract, and  it  might  therefore  serve  only  for  profa- 
nation, and  operate  as  a  hinderance  to  the  recep- 
tion of  the  great  principles  and  truths  which  arc 
given  in  this  volume.  We  could  not  have  pre- 
sented enough,  in  particular  and  detail,  to  accus- 
tom the  mind,  and  establish  any  firmly-rooted  con- 
victions. Rather,  then,  than  enter  upon  long- 
drawn  and  connected  explanations  of  Scripture, 
although  herein  consisted  the  chief  and  exalted 
labors  of  Swedenborg,  we  have  chosen  to  present 
his  great  doctrines,  derived  professedly  from  the 
Word,  and  his  principles  in  full  of  scriptural  inter- 
pretation, with  such  expositions  as  fell  naturally 
into  the  extracts  made,  and  such  others,  of  a 
marked  and  particular  character,  as  serve  for  ex- 
amples and  illustrations  of  this  system  of  scriptu- 
ral exegesis.  This,  we  think,  cannot  fail  to  lead 
to  further  inquiry  at  the  proper  sources. 

We  have  arranged  the  Work  in  order,  so  that, 
if  any  one  choose,  it  may  be  read  from  beginning 
to  end,  with  system  and  profit.  Indeed,  to  a  novi- 
tiate inquirer,  this  is  the  only  way  in  which  the 
full  meaning  of  the  volume  can  be  obtained.  As 
far  as  is  possible,  in  such  a  case,  the  reader  may 
here  find  an  orderly  body  of  theological  and  spir- 
itual truth. 

We  deem  it  necessary,  as  far  as  possible  in  the 
limits  allotted  to  us  in  this  Preface,  to  advert  to 
two  grand  doctrines  taught  in  the  following  pages, 
for  the  purpose  of  removing,  so  far  as  may  be, 
whatever  of  objection  may  exist  against  them  in 
the  natural  mind,  and  of  seeing  their  accordance 
with  the  best  reason  of  man.  We  allude  to  the 
Lord  and  the  fFord.  It  has  been  frequently  found 
that  Swedenborg's  language,  full  as  it  is,  while 
all-sufficient  to  convince  and  satisfy  many  minds, 
still  is  not  always  the  best  adapted  to  the  novitiate' 
inquirer,  and  especially  to  those  on  tlie  natural- 


INTRODUCTION. 


plane.  Sucli  are  still  prone  to  call  for  the  reason 
and  philosophy  of  the  truth.  Hence  it  has  hap- 
pened, that  the  works  of  certain  expounders  of 
Swedenborg,  such  as  "Noble's  Lectures,"  " No- 
ble's Appeal,"  "Noble's  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures,"  "  Des  Guay's  True  System  of  Reli 
gious  Philosophy,  in  Letters  to  a  Man  of  the  World," 
"Hindmarsh's  Lamb  Slain  from  the  Foundation  of 
the  World,"  "Hindmarsh's  Seal  upon  the  Lips  of 
Trinitarians  and  Unitarians,"  Parson's  "  Essays," 
Bush's  "Letters  to  a  Trinitarian,"  Rendell's  "An 
tediluvian  History,"  (showing  the  interior  sense 
of  the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis,)  Rendell's 
"Peculiarities  of  the  Bible,"  and  Hayden's  "  Sci- 
ence and  Revelation;"  it  has  happened,  we  say, 
that  such  works  as  these  have  produced  conviction 
at  first,  when  the  original  writings  of  Swedenborg) 
which  form  the  bas's  of  the  above-named  authors, 
have  at  first  failed  of  that  result.  The  reason  is, 
•  Swedenborg  occupies  too  high  a  plane  for  the 
merely  natural  mind.  Such  writers,  expounders 
of  him,  bring  the  matter  down  to  the  natural  plane, 
or  to  the  spiritual-natural,  and  exhibit  it  more  in 
accordance  with  the  reason  and  pliilosophy  of  na- 
ture. We  should  recommend,  therefore,  the  above 
works,  as  helps  to  those  who  would  otherwise 
stumble  at  Swedenborg. 

For  similar  reasons,  we  feel  ourself  called  upon 
to  say  a  few  words  in  defence  of  that  central  doc- 
trine of  the  System  of  Truth  proclaimed  by  our 
author,  and  also  of  the  Divine  Word.  First,  the 
Doctrine  of  the  Lord.  The  remarks  which 
we  now  have  to  offer,  are  mainly  addressed  to  that 
large  and  increasing  class  of  minds,  whose  tenden- 
cies are  determinedly  natural  —  who  are  contin- 
ually asking  for  the  philosophy  of  Divine  Truths 
—  whose  reason  is  the  predominant  faculty  of 
their  nature,  and  who,  unless  supported  by  a 
strong  basis  of  philosophies  and  scientifics,  are  apt 
to  verge,  and  finally  merge,  into  a  Naturalism  va- 
ried and  distinguished  by  the  diiferent  degrees  of 
pantheistic  and  spiritual  philosophy.  We  wish 
we  had  room  for  a  more  extended  and  thorough 
unfolding.  As  it  is,  being  limited  to  a  few  pages, 
we  must  necessarily  be  brief  and  imperfect. 

First,  then,  as  to  the  "  Miraculous  Conception  " 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  the  womb  of  the  Vir- 
gin. We  hold  that  this  is  strictly  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  and  analogies  of  nature.  It  is  quite 
common,  however,  especially  among  certain  Uni- 
tarians and  professed  "  Spiritualists  "  of  this  day, 
to  deny  the  scriptural  account  of  the  conception 
of  Jesus  Christ,  as  inconsistent  with  the  "  Con- 
stitution and  Course  of  Nature."  When  will 
men  cease  to  prate  of  the  non-existence  of  things, 
simply  because  they  fall  not  within  the  scope  of 
their  knowledge  ?  Let  us  see  how  the  Kingdoms 
of  Nature  rise  up  before  us,  every  one  of  them 
confirmatory,  by  the  full  strength  of  a  divine  anal- 
ogy, of  the  declared  birth  of  Jesus  Christ.  Nei- 
ther of  the  three  Kingdoms  of  Mineral,  Vegetable, 


or  Animal  Nature,  has  been  produced  by  a  par- 
entage of  the  same  kind,  that  is,  has  not  had  any 
natural  parentage,  except  on  one  side,  which 
makes  the  case  still  more  analogous  to  the  birth 
of  Christ.  For  instance,  the  first  animal  (and  for~ 
distinction's  sake,  we  may  as  well  speak  of  one 
first  as  many  first)  had  no  animal  father,  but  was 
a  development  from  the  vegetable  kingdom.  'I'hc 
all-pervading  Divine  Essence,  God,  was  the  Fa--^ 
ther,  which  took  eflT^ct  in  the  advanced  stages  of 
the  vegetable  kingdom  as  the  mother,  and  so  the 
first  animal  production  was  born.  Be  it  observed, 
that  although  we  use  the  term  "  development,"  yet 
we  do  not  mean  to  convey,  for  it  is  not  true,  that 
the  vegetable  developed  the  animal  by  any  power 
inherent  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  as  vegetable- 
We  must  adopt  the  theory  of  "  cpirilual  causes " 
for  all  that  exists.  The  Divine  Essence  was  what 
wrought  in  vegetable  nature  and  through  it,  to 
produce  or  develop  the  animal  creation.  And  it 
is  certain,  that  neither  the  animal  kingdom  as  a 
whole,  nor  any  part  of  it,  not  even  the  firsts,  had 
any  animal  father  or  cause.  For  no  animal  exist- 
ed before  the  first.  The  Divine  Spirit,  then,  was » 
the  Father,  which  took  conceptive  effect  and  form 
in  the  suitably  advanced  stages  of  vegetable  na- 
ture, and  produced  the  first  animal  existence. 

It  is  useless  to  try  to  evade  this,  by  saying  that 
the  line  of  division  is  so  indistinct  between  the 
highest  vegetables  and  the  lowest  animals,  and 
the  two  kingdoms  run  so  gradually  and  impercep- 
tibly, one  into  another,  that  it  is  impossible  to  tell 
where  one  ends  and  the  other  commences.  It  is 
true,  this  is  the  appearance.  But  notwithstanding 
all  this,  every  one  must  acknowledge  the  truth  of 
spiritual  causes,  and  also  the  doctrine  of  discrete  * 
degrees.  See,  under  head  of  "  Discrete  and  Con- 
tinuous Degrees,"  Compendium,  Nos.  1795-1814. 
The  simple  truth  is,  mere  vegetable  nature  had  no 
power  in  itself,  as  vegetable,  to  grow  into  animal 
nature  ;  but  the  indwelling  Divinity,  or  that  degree 
of  the  divine  vitalizing  Essence  whicli  correspond- 
ed to  animal  life,  took  conceptive  effect  and  form 
in  the  suitably  advanced  stages  of  the  vegetable 
world,  and  produced  a  discrete  creation,  viz.,  ani- 
mal nature.  Notwithstanding,  then,  the  impercep- 
tible gradations  by  which  the  kingdoms  of  nature 
are  distinguished,  in  their  higher  aiid  lower  points 
of  contact,  yet  every  one  allows,  at  least  true  phi- 
losophy must  allow,  that  they  are  distiiiguished, 
even  in  their  beginnings  and  endings,  by  a  very 
decided  degree  of  the  divine  vitalizing  principle.  ~ 
Their  running,  then,  one  into  another,  impercepti- 
bly to  our  powers  of  observation,  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  truth  in  hand.  The  great  trutli  is,  the 
Divine  Spirit  was  the  Father,  or  Cause,  of  each 
successive  development,  and  not  any  vitalizing 
power  in  the  kingdoms  of  nature  themselves. 

It  is  to  be  distinctly  observed,  for  further  illus- 
tration, that  the  Divine  Principle  existed  in  the 
primitive  gaseous  and  electrical  materials  of  this 


INTRODUCTION. 


globe,  in  different  degrees  of  the  creative  Essence. 
There  must  be,  in  the  Divinity,  those  degrees  of 
his  vitalizing  Essence,  which  correspond  to,  and 
cause,  the  different  kingdoms  of  nature:  —  thus 
the  divine,  but  yet  unmanifested,  mineral  essence  ; 
the  divine  vegetable  essence ;  the  divine  animal 
essence  ;  the  divine  human  essence ;  and  the  Di- 
vine itself,  or  very  Divine.  And  now,  precisely  as 
worlds  were  produced  at  first,  that  is,  by  the  great 
Spiritual  Sun  impregnating  the  great  material  sun, 
so  has  each  successive  degree  of  the  divine  es- 
sence operated  upon  the  plane  of  material  nature 
next  beneath  it,  and  thus,  with  a  spiritual  Father 
and  a  natural  mother,  produced  a  new  and  discrete 
creation.  Thus,  that  degree  of  the  Divine  Spirit 
which  may  be  called  the  divine  unmanifested  min- 
eral essence,  took  conceptive  effect  and  form  in 
the  previously  existing  gaseous  and  electrical  for- 
mations, and  produced  the  first  manifest  mineral 
nature.  That  degree  of  the  Divine  Essence  which 
corresponded  to  the  yet  unmanifested  vegetable 
nature,  took  effect  in  the  matrixes  of  the  mineral 
world,  and  the  first  vegetables  were  born  into  ex- 
istence. Again,  afler  sufficient  continuity  of  the 
vegetable  kingdom,  the  same  discrete  operation 
was  repeated.  The  next  higher  degree  of  the  Di- 
vine Life  came  down,  or  out,  to  meet  the  prepared 
receptacles  of  vegetable  nature,  and  animal  exist- 
ence was  the  product  and  birth. 

Before  we  come  to  the  origin  of  man,  we  must 
now  invite  attention  to  another  peculiarity  in  this 
creating  process  ;  and  that  is,  that  creation  is  a 
sexual  process  throughout.  It  is,  in  these  great 
discreted  divisions  of  it,  a  begetting  by  the  Divin- 
ity, and  a  bringing  forth  of  Nature.  For  in  all 
Nature,  there  are  now  recognized  by  science  and 
philosophy,  the  male  and  female  departments.  In 
Botany,  especially,  the  sexes,  and  loves,  and  im- 
pregnations, and  fecundations  of  the  plants,  are  a 
subject  of  peculiar  truth  and  interest.  When  they 
have  acquired  the  property  of  reproduction,  they 
become  adults,  and  exhibit  the  sexual  parts,  both 
in  the  male  and  the  female.  And  the  science  of 
Botany  is  replete  with  ficts,  showing  the  clear 
truth  of  the  sexual  propagation  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom.  But  can  it  be  a  characteristic  of  one 
kingdom  and  not  of  another  ?  Is  not  nature  uni- 
form ?  Such  a  well-known  truth  in  one  depart- 
ment of  nature,  and  that  inanimate,  is  sufficient  to 
establish  it  for  all.  And  it  is  now  a  truth  well 
recognized,  that  in  all  animate  and  inanimate  na- 
ture, these  principles  prevail.  The  Divine  Love 
and  the  Divine  Wisdom,  which  give  in  humanity 
the  male  and  female  distinctions,  have  also  con- 
ferred them  upon  all  other  nature ;  and  in  positive 
and  negative,  in.  impregnation  and  production,  in 
all  the  generative  processes  of  creation,  we  are 
obliged  to  recognize,  though  we  cannot  always 
discern  it,  the  sexual  operation.  Creation  is  a 
conception  and  a  birth ;  and  especially  in  the  great 
discrete  divisions  of  the  kingdoms  of  nature,  is 


this  birth  recognized.  Even  the  language  of 
Scripture  confirms  this  view  of  the  subject.  So 
far  as  the  correspondential  language  of  Genesis 
can  be  applied  to  the  natural  creation,  the  follow- 
ing language  is  significant.  "  And  the  earth  was 
without  form  and  void  ;  and  darkness  was  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep  ;  and  the  spirit  of  God  moved,  (or 
brooded)  upon  the  face  of  the  waters."  Gen.  i.  2. 
It  is  a  word  borrowed  from  the  process  of  the  hen 
in  hatching  her  eggs,  or  fostering  her  young,  y 

We  need  not  multiply  evidence.  The  great 
fact  is  conspicuous.  "The  creation  of  the  uni- 
verse, or  world,  (says  Oken)  is  itself  nothing  but 
an  act  of  impregnation.  The  sex  is  prognosti- 
cated from  the  beginning,  and  pursues  its  course 
like  a  holy  and  conservative  bond,  throughout  the 
whole  of  nature.  He  therefore  who  so  much  as 
questions  the  sex  in  the  organic  world,  compre- 
hends not  the  riddle  or  problem  of  the  universe." 

Behold  now  again,  how  this  truth  applies  to  the 
further  elucidation  of  our  subject  When  the  di- 
vine unmanifested  vegetable  essence  (or  that  de- 
gree of  the  divine  vitalizing  principle  which  cor- 
responds to  vegetable  nature,)  impregnated  the 
mineral  kingdom,  it  was  the  female  departments  of 
it.  It  was  the  matrix  or  matrixes  of  the  mineral 
world  —  the  great  womb  of  the  earth,  which  re- 
ceived the  divine  influx  in  established  order,  and 
vegetable  nature  was  thus  brought  into  being. 
So  also,  it  was  the  female  departments,  or  depart- 
ment, of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  which  received 
the  influx  of  the  divine  animal  essence,  as  yet  un- 
incarnated  in  animal  nature,  and  the  first  living 
animal  breathed  the  breath  of  life.  In  each  in- 
stance, God  was  the  Father,  and  nature  in  her  fe — 
male  departments  was  the  mother,  of  each  dis- 
cretely distinctive  kingdom. 

If  now,  we  should  consider  the  origin  of  the  first 
human  pair,  which,  for  want  of  room,  we  cannot 
here  treat  so  fully  as  we  might,  we  should  find  a 
precisely  similar  process.  We  do  not  wish  to 
dogmatize,  or  speculate  unworthily  ;  but  the  anal- 
ogy would  seem  to  require  that  the  first  pair,  or 
pairs,  which  could  be  distinctively  called  man, 
though  of  course  very  low  in  the  scale  of  human  ex- 
istence, should  be  born  proximately  of  the  animal 
kingdom  as  a  mother,  but  by  no  means  of  animal  na- 
ture as  the  father,  or  by  any  process  of  natural  de- 
velopment, such  as  denies  spiritual  or  divine  causes, 
or  such  as  the  atheistical  and  pantheistical  systems 
sometimes  set  forth.  There  may  have  been  an 
animal  mother,  (though  when  we  speak  thus,  we 
must  not  fix  too  rudely  in  mere  forms,  and  such 
forms  too  as  we  are  apt  to  consider  when  we  do 
not  sufficiently  reflect  upon  the  gradual  perfection 
and  high  ascent  of  the  animal  kingdom ;  but  we 
must  consider  well  the  essence  and  principle  of  the 
feminine  nature,  and  such  forms  as  are  compatible 
with  their  highest  ascent  and  approximation  to  the 
human :)  there  may  have  been,  we  say,  an  animal 
mother,  in  which,  as  a  matrix,  the  divine  unmani- 


INTRODUCTION. 


fested  human  essence  took  conceptive  effect  and 
form,  precisely  as  it  did  in  each  previous  kingdom. 
There  is  nothing  contrary  to  this  theory  of  the  ori- 
gin of  man,  either  in  the  Scriptures,  or  in  the  rev- 
elations of  science.  And  the  analogies  of  nature 
seem  absolutely  to  require  it.  All  objections, 
then,  against  this  view  of  the  subject,  may  only  be 
the  effect  of  human  prejudice,  in  ignorance  of  the 
great  laws  by  which  the  Creator  has  wrought. 
But  if  our  views  are  correct,  then  we  have  man  at 

'  first,  without  any  human  father,  yet  with  feminine 
nature  in  the  kingdom  next  beneath  him  as  the 
mother,  as  in  all  previous  instances.  Indeed, 
whatever  view  we  take  of  the  first  man,  we  are  as- 
sured he  had  no  human  father,  for  there  could  be 
none  before  the  first  And  recognizing  as  we 
must  plainly,  a  whole  discrete  degree  between  the 
animal  and  the  human,  we  must,  unless  we  take 
the  theory  that  he  was  made  miraculously  out  of 
the  dust  of  the  earth,  or  in  some  other  way  incon- 
sistent with  nature,  recognize  his  birth  from  the 
animal  kingdom  in  some  such  way  as  we  have 
designated.  Whether  it  is  not  best  to  preserve 
the  analogy  between  the  origination  of  the  human, 
and  the  origination  of  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdoms,  we  leave  for  the  reader  to  decide.  For 
ourselves,  we  make  no  question  of  the  truth  of 
these  general  principles. 

But,  let  what  has  been  said  of  the  origin  of  the 
first  man  be  passed  over  as  something  which  the 
reader  is  not  prepared  to  admit.  All  must  see  the 
truth  with  regard  to  God  being  the  Father,  and 
Nature  the  mother,  somehow,  of  the  respective 
kingdoms,  and  somehow  sexually;  for  the  term 
father  suggests  mother,  and  it  is  an  undeniable 
fact  that  there  was  nothing  of  power,  spirit,  or  in- 
fluence, in  mineral,  vegetable,  or  animal  nature,  as 
nature,  capable  of  producing  the  kingdoms  above 
each    respectively.      But    the     Divine     Essence 

,  wrought  in  and  through  them. 

Now  then,  what  more  was  ever  claimed  for 
Christ?  He  had  no  human  father,  it  is  said.  And 
■what  of  it?  This  is  an  objection,  if  it  be  an  ob- 
jection, that  lies  equally  against  every  kingdom  of 
nature !  The  fact  is,  admitting  Christ's  birth  so, 
it  is  not  an  exceptional  case,  except  in  its  individ- 
uality;  not  at  all  in  its  principle;  it  is  7iot  some- 
thing contrary  to  all  analogy,  and  all  known  laws 
of  nature.  And  if  it  were,  it  would  perhaps  be 
presumptuous  in  man  to  pretend  that  there  was 
not  some  law  adequate  to  this  event,  of  which  he 
had  no  knowledge.  But  it  is  not  so.  And  al- 
though he  had  no  human  father,  yet  it  is  an  inter- 
esting truth  that  both  the  male  and  female  princi- 
ples actively  concurred  in  his  production.  Ml 
nature  is  in  exact  analogy  to  this  sacredly  declared 
fact.  Here  is,  in  fact,  the  next  ascension  of  the 
Divine  Principle.  (Naturally  speaking,  it  is  as- 
cension ;  spiritually  speaking,  it  is  descension.) 
It  is  the  Divine  Itself,  or  very  Divine,  as  yet  un- 
manifested  in  nature,  except  in  man,  coming  out 


by  an  interior  way,  and  taking  conceptive  effect  > 
and  form  in  the  human  kingdom,  and  in  the  fe- 
male  department  of  it,  and  thus  again,  God  was 
the  Father,  and  Mary  was  the  mother,  of  the  Di- 
vine Man,  Christ  Jesus ! 

The  8imj)le  truth  is,  there  has  been  a  whole  suc- 
cession of  "  miraculous  births,"  which  are  capable 
of  being  rationalized.  And  this  is  the  order  in 
which  they  stand.  Mineral,  Vegetable,  Animal, 
Human,  Divine.  Every  one  of  them  conceived  of 
God  the  Father,  in  the  wombs  of  nature,  and  born 
into  the  world.  Creation  has  been  from  the  first, 
in  a  continual  effort  to  put  forth  the  human  form, 
because  God  is  in  that  form ;  and  this  effort  is 
manifest  even  in  the  fins  of  the  fish,  where  the  five 
fingers  of  a  man  are  rudimentally  shadowed  fortii. 
In  the  higher  animals,  we  see  more  distinctly  the 
approach  to  the  human  form.  Then  man  appears, 
and  lastly  God  himself  has  developed  himself, 
rather,  ultimated  himself  in  nature,  at  tlie  summit 
of  all  created